Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli backs plans for Champions League reform

Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli has previously been described as one of the driving forces behind a new European Super League, but has now backed Uefa’s proposals to reform the Champions League.

Plans for the Super League emerged last week, in what would be a revolutionary reshuffle of European football. Barcelona and Real Madrid are believed to be the major protagonists in the development of such a competition due to their respective dire financial situations amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Agnelli was once adamant that football should embrace a Super League in a bid to see the game evolve, but is now backing UEFA’s plans to use the “Swiss system” in the Champions League from 2024.

"“The so-called Swiss system is a very interesting system. It’s a great system, because it’s scalable so the number games you play in the early stages are a non-predetermined number of games,” he said."

Such a format would place all 32 teams into a single league table rather than the current eight groups. Each team is then drawn to play ten opponents – though the number is flexible – with opponents determined based on seeding. Those who advance to the knockout phase will be determined by the final league table. The “Swiss system” also means the competition could be expanded to 36 teams.

Nevertheless, Agnelli’s backing of Champions League reform is a huge blow to the Super League, despite the Juve chairman never advocating a ‘members-only’ breakaway league. He recently suggested that European competitions should be “open to all” while speaking during an online address to the e-Think Sport Conference (via the BBC).

“Competitions at European level should be open to all so that we, as managers of the industry, must keep the dream alive, which is one of the mantras of our history,” he told the News Tank Football (via The Times).

Agnelli’s warnings

It’s been a busy week for Agnelli. When he hasn’t been scuppering the Super League in favour of “Swiss systems”, the Juve chairman has also been sending out dire warnings regarding the financial cost of the coronavirus pandemic on the footballing world.

The recently published Deloitte report – an annual financial profile of the highest revenue generating clubs in world football – estimates a loss of over €2 billion in revenue by the end of the 2020/21 season for the leading top 20 clubs, which, of course, includes Juve.

Agnelli, however, believes the situation is much worse, while also projecting stadiums to remain empty in Italy for the remainder of the 2020/21 campaign. He instead predicts a loss in the region of €6.5 billion and €8.5 billion.