FOOTBALL fans may have to start rushing out of work early to watch their team in the Champions League.
From 2018, two matches per week will kick off at 6pm with the other six games moving to a later 8pm slot.
An announcement on the UEFA website said: “For the upcoming cycle, it was also decided to have two separate kick-off times in the UEFA Champions League, at 19.00CET (two matches) and 21.00CET (six matches), allowing fans opportunities to watch more matches.“
A similar format is already used in the Europa League with half the matches kicking off at 6pm and the other half at 8pm.
The move may not go down too well in England, where Arsenal and Hull last season defied UEFA orders to play their FA Cup fifth round replay at 5.30pm
European football’s governing body doesn’t allow any domestic matches to clash with the Champions League, but a compromise was found in which the match at the KCOM Stadium kicked off at 7pm to allow as many fans as possible to make it to the game.
The new kick-off time is far from the most controversial of the changes to the Champions League.
UEFA’s Executive Committee also announced they will be following through on plans to give past winners of European competitions bonus coefficient points which will help them gain better seedings and favourable draws.
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This change was strongly supported by fallen giants like AC Milan and Inter Milan but will make the competition tougher for new kids on the block like Man City and Leicester.
UEFA stated: “Meanwhile, the club coefficient used for financial distribution purposes will cover the last ten years and will include bonus points for previous titles to reflect the longer-term contribution of clubs to the competition brand and success.“
A table on the UEFA website explains how the bonus points will be allocated.
It has also been announced that Lyon will host the 2018 Europa League final.
Kiev was announced as the host of the 2018 Champions League final in September.
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