European football's governing body UEFA is considering cutting down the Champions League by removing the second phase of the competition, director-general Gerhard Aigner said in a newspaper interview today.
"We are analysing the possibility of getting rid of the second phase. Of course it would also have consequences for (club) revenues," Aigner told the Swiss newspaper Le Temps.
Aigner said the idea was still in a consultation phase, but he indicated that he would prefer a decision to be taken at a UEFA executive committee meeting on December 12th and 13th.
"To my tastes, that would be ideal because afterwards we have to take care of the marketing. But we are not in a hurry, because a new formula is meant to be set up in July 2003," he added.
Aigner suggested that several formats were under consideration.
Aigner told Le Tempsthat if a future Champions League involved cutting back on the number of teams taking part, he would favour trimming down the number of clubs from the four top European footballing nations.
AFP