UEFA has confirmed a significant change to the way in which house benefit will work within the Champions League knockout rounds, and it’s already inflicting a stir amongst a few of Europe’s largest golf equipment.
Softfootball can affirm that from this season, the second-leg venue gained’t be determined randomly anymore. As a substitute, will probably be based mostly on League Part efficiency however just for the groups that end within the high 4 or the golf equipment that knock them out.
This implies a lower-ranked staff can nonetheless get second-leg house benefit, simply by eliminating one of many elite.
UEFA has been busy; we just lately reported that they fined a very good variety of golf equipment on account of FFP breaches and at the moment are attempting to readjust a format that was newly launched simply final season.
In line with Categorical, that change could sound honest on paper, but it surely’s led to confusion and complaints about inconsistency. Some golf equipment really feel they’re being punished for ending third or 4th, a strong efficiency by any commonplace, however nonetheless being denied the good thing about a house second leg within the semis.
Take Arsenal, as an illustration. They needed to play the second leg of their semi-final in Paris final season, although they completed third and PSG have been fifteenth. That wouldn’t change underneath the brand new guidelines, as a result of PSG knocked out No. 1-ranked Liverpool within the spherical of 16, which means they inherited the home-leg benefit from them.
So primarily, should you knock out a top-four staff, you get to maintain their perks.
Many really feel this setup provides pointless imbalance. Not like within the U.S., the place playoff brackets usually get reshuffled based mostly on efficiency, UEFA has opted to not re-rank matchups. That call means some groups can by no means host the second leg of a semifinal, irrespective of how nicely they carried out within the league part.
Final season, Barcelona (2nd) would’ve hosted Inter Milan (4th) underneath the brand new system flipping the draw. Arsenal would even have hosted Actual Madrid (eleventh) within the quarterfinals as an alternative of travelling to Spain. So sure, this might change the trail of the competitors fairly a bit.
Softfootball can affirm that this similar rule now applies throughout all UEFA competitions, together with the Europa League, Convention League, and Girls’s Champions League.
The purpose is perhaps to reward benefit, however critics argue it’s rewarding selective benefit. Whether or not it results in fairer matchups or simply extra confusion stays to be seen.
