The Champions League resumes this Tuesday with a historic change in its rules – the removal of the away goal advantage – and in a context still marked by the coronavirus pandemic. UEFA is turning its back on 56 years of history by abandoning the away goal advantage, which was seen as increasingly irrelevant and causing teams to lock up play, in the first leg of its interclub competitions
The away-goal advantage, which was used to decide between two tied teams after their two-legged matches, was announced on Thursday by its executive committee. This rule will be replaced by two 15-minute periods of extra time, followed by possible penalty kicks, “starting in the qualifying stages” of European “men’s, women’s and youth” competitions.
The advantage of the away goal, which for example allowed Paris SG to eliminate Bayern Munich this season in the quarterfinals of the Champions League (2-3, 0-1), no longer seemed justified, UEFA explains. Since “the mid-1970s”, UEFA has noted a gradual reduction in the difference between home and away wins (from 61%/19% to 47%/30%), as well as the difference between home and away goals scored in each match. Among the causes cited were “the better quality and standardized size of the pitches”, “improved safety conditions, better refereeing” or “more comfortable” travel conditions, the body said.
The abolition of this rule has therefore “been discussed at various UEFA meetings in recent years. Although there was no unanimity of views, many coaches, fans and other soccer players questioned its fairness,” said the head of the body, Aleksander Ceferin. The away goal advantage had ended up “defeating its original purpose, as it now discourages home teams from attacking – especially in the first leg – because they fear conceding a goal that would give their opponents a crucial advantage,” Ceferin continued.
Another complaint is “the unfairness, especially in extra time, of forcing the home team to score twice when the away team has scored a goal,” adds the Slovenian leader.
From the round of 16 onwards, we can therefore expect to see more extra time and even more penalty shoot-outs to decide between teams that have scored the same number of goals in their two matches.
CUTBACKS IN ALLOCATIONS
Last May, UEFA decided to smooth out the loss of Covid-related income over five seasons – a loss of 531 million euros for the 2019-2020 season alone – and is currently planning to cut around 83 million euros from the prize money for its European competitions next June. Before this “Covid rebate”, each of the 32 clubs involved in the group stage must receive a minimum of 15.64 million euros before scoring any points. Each victory in the group stage will bring in an additional 2.8 million euros, each draw 930,000.
REPLACEMENTS
As for international matches and the Europa League, teams are allowed five substitutions each, instead of the usual three before the pandemic: the International Board (Ifab), guarantor of the laws of the game, extended this flexibility last May until the end of 2022. In knockout matches, a sixth substitution is possible in extra time.
VAR
Video-assisted refereeing (VAR), introduced for the 2019-2020 season, remains in place at all stages of the competition.
Match Fixtures
Tuesday September 14, 2021
- BSC – Man. United
- Sevilla – Red Bull
- Barcelona – Bayern M.
- Chelsea – Petersburg
- Dynamo – Benfica
- Lille – Wolfsburg
- Malmo – Juventus
- Villarreal – Atalanta
Wednesday 15th September
- Besiktas – Borussia
- Tiraspol – Shakhtar
- Atletico M – FC Porto
- Club Brugge – PSG
- Inter Milan -Real
- Liverpool – AC Milan
- Man. City – RB Leipzig
- Sporting – Ajax
