UEFA yesterday announced it was scrapping the second group stage of the Champions League for the 2003-04 season in response to growing concerns that players are suffering from burnout.

Simultaneously, in a move that could transform the football calendar, Arsenal's chairman David Dein said a proposal to introduce a winter break to the Premiership will be put before the division's managers.

Dein said the managers would discuss the idea next month - before the season begins on August 17th - and that people such as his own club's Arsene Wenger and Liverpool's Gerard Houllier were in favour.

Dein said that a three-week break could take place in early January or even February, so that St Stephen's Day and New Year's day fixtures would remain intact.

"Arsene is in favour and I met Gerard Houllier recently and so is he," Dein said. "The proposal would be that after probably New Year's day there would be a three-week break which would give the players the opportunity to go to the Caribbean or wherever and then come back for the second half of the season."

Dein added that it is also a view that England's manager Sven-Goran Eriksson subscribes to following a World Cup in which poor performances from fancied teams were blamed on exhaustion. "Sven said that some of the England players were not at their peak and a couple of the boys were definitely a bit below par.

"The next stage would be when the (Premiership) managers get together in a few weeks, and it will be on the agenda. I would be disappointed if the rest (of the managers) do not fall into line. The decision should be promoted by the managers because it is for the players."

A Premier League spokesperson said: "If a serious decision is made by the FA then it's something we would have to look at but until then it's very difficult to comment."

UEFA, meanwhile, said that from the season after next the Champions League will revert to knockout ties for the final 16 rather than retain the second group phase. The number of teams in the first group stage will remain at 32, but the format means that the eventual winners will play four games less than they do now.

Although UEFA has been rethinking the Champions League format for some time, it said yesterday that events at the World Cup had influenced its decision. Changes to the UEFA Cup's format will be announced in December, moreover.

UEFA's executive committee, which heard from medical experts that some footballers are playing too much and that doing so is affecting their physical and mental well-being, is hoping that Europe's leagues will follow its example and attempt to reduce fixture lists which have resulted in some players playing 70 to 80 matches a season.

Mike Lee, UEFA's spokesman, said: "The easy option would have been not to change the Champions League, and this is what some clubs and television companies wanted. It is up to the national associations to change their fixture lists but we are of the view that they are becoming too congested and there is a danger that too much football is being played."

Wenger, however, said the reduced number of games would raise other problems. "Can they \ guarantee the same money by playing less games? I don't know. The pressure for this did not come from the clubs but from television."

UEFA president Lennart Johansson said discussions with medical experts at the World Cup, and fears about oversaturated TV coverage, had prompted the change.

He said: "The medical commission and the team doctors we talked to said there were too many injuries in the World Cup because the players were worn out.

"The top players play in their national team, in the league, in the cup, in qualifying matches for the World Cup. It was too much and that was perhaps the main reason why so many players of that category were injured or at least in bad shape."

Johansson also conceded that too many group games, especially in circumstances where nothing is at stake, were a turn-off for fans and television viewers, and the coming season's Champions League will be the last with the two-group system which was introduced in 1999-2000.

He added: "Football always has its attraction for television but we should not overdo it. We have found out that many people think there are too many matches. This is a flagship competition and we have reason to believe that this new format is attractive to the broadcasters."

He added that UEFA plans to withdraw from the Confederations Cup after the 2005 event in Germany.