Martyn Ziegler Chief Sports Reporter
Uefa is to hold talks this week on a
proposed new Champions League
format that would involve clubs
playing ten different opponents in the
group stage in a dramatic shake-up of
the competition.
The “Swiss system” is understood to
be Uefa’s favourite among several
proposed reforms of the competition
and an answer to the threat of a break-
away super league because it would
lead to more group matches between
teams from the big European leagues.
The model, to be used from 2024,
would mean four more Champions
League matches a season for each team
than under the existing system where
there are six group games, putting more
pressure on the fixture calendar. It
would almost certainly mean that
English clubs in Europe would have to
drop out of the League Cup and may
result in an end to FA Cup replays.
Although the proposed new format
may be complicated for fans to
grasp initially it has the benefit of
allowing more matches between the
bigger teams and fewer meaningless
group matches.
The Swiss system is often used in
chess, while in football the Concacaf
federation already uses it for some of its
competitions in North and Central
America and the Caribbean, and
officials there say it helps to maintain
interest until the end of the group stage.
The system would put 32 or 36 clubs
in a single division. They would not all
play each other, but a random draw
Times Crossword 2 7, 8 37
across down Yesterday’s solution 27,83 6
Check today’s answers by ringing 0905 757
0 141 by midnight. Calls cost £1 per minute
plus your telephone company’s network
access charge. SP: Spoke 0333 202 3390.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10
11 12
13 14
15 16
17 18
19 20
21 22 23
24 25
26 27
RAPACI TY HEBREW
I A H A M X E A
AGREEABLE PECAN
D L Y L D E O D
DICE EMIGRANTS
O A N E T S W
NOMI NAT I VE BIRO
T E E R A S D R
HAND WALLSTREET
E T A V R R H
STANDREWS ALAS
H R V R A I T U
EXI LE SEMANT ICS
L A N E B E O E
FINITOPARDONER1 Standard clubs with refurbished
interior (9)
6 Country cottage: one having to
stoop? ( 5 )
9 Run out, suspicious about stone
platform ( 7 )
10 Dismiss from racecourse, days later
(3-4)
11 Church on rocky outcrop set ablaze
(5)
12 Face leader avoiding furious debate
( 9 )
13 Make saint transgress, coming
about in boat ( 8 )
14 Patriarch against wearing
Hawaiian garland ( 4 )
17 Coward say to strike out verse from
fictional work (4)
18 Fellow venturing to unseat last
bureaucrat (8)
21 Press cavalry to provide engine
once (4,5)
22 Northerner’s short stay in Paris
hotel? ( 5 )
24 Irish speaker’s turn of phrase in
heavy metal ( 7 )
25 Most just fine with quirky satire ( 7 )
26 Constant contributor to employ
alumni ( 5 )
27 Players, being experts, restricting
lock ( 9 )1 Unit employed with rocks to lug
round area (5)
2 One covering couples in car
damaged in New York? (9,6)
3 Attention brought to article that
reduces shocking risks ( 8 )
4 One marks (twice) poems ending
in sentiment? Shameless! ( 8 )
5 Invader right to enter that which is
claimed to be an island (6)
6 Gallon consumed by renowned
pilot Harry (6)
7 Take control with Globe customers
on tube, minutes away (4,3,8)
8 I don’t care for messing with the
editorial process ( 9 )
13 Getting on N66 with a boarding
pass ( 9 )
15 Island force caught up in attack: be
shocked (4,1,3)
16 Supplement causing dependence
about to be withdrawn ( 8 )
19 Keen to immerse husband in
southern brook ( 6 )
20 Constant frost beginning to abate
in peninsula (6)
23 No-account Roman historian’s
religious book ( 5 )Newspapers
support recycling
The recycled paper content of
UK newspapers in 2019 was 63.2%2GM Wednesday December 2 2020 | the times
Sp ort
mber 2 202 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| thtttththttttthththtttthtttthtttthththttththtthttttttttttttthttthttttttttttttththttttttttttththtttttttthttthtttttttttttttthtttttttttthtttttttthtttttttthttttttttttttttttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhe times
Malan hits 99 as Morgan’s
team claim T20 series 3-0
Pages 62-63
England cruise home
More top club
clashes in new
European plan
would select ten matches — five at
home and five away — for each club
against opponents of varying
strength based on seeding. The existing
system has 32 clubs split into eight
groups of four who play each other
home and away.
The points from those ten matches
for each club would be registered in a
single league table, from which the top
16 would progress to the knockout
rounds. The top club would play the
team who finished 16th and the second-
placed team would play the one that
finished 15th, and so on.
Significantly, the European Club
Association (ECA) and the European
Leagues organisation both think that
there is potential merit in the Swiss
system. It is understood there is
confidence that the format would be
even more attractive to broadcasters
due to a more exciting group phase.
Uefa is expected to present details of
the proposed new model to European
officials over the next two weeks. One
source with knowledge of the proposal
told The Times: “The top clubs want
more matches against other clubs from
the top leagues and this provides it.
“Although it might be more difficult
for fans to understand at first, another
advantage is that the group stage
should be much more exciting than
it is now.
“Every match should be significant
because every place in the top 16 will be
valuable in terms of the opponent in the
next round and in terms of prize money.
There is also an incentive of being
Continued on page 69PAUL ELLIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGESJones puts Liverpool through
Villa-Newcastle
game called off
Martin Hardy
Grosjean: I saw
death coming
Rebecca Clancy
Motor Racing CorrespondentNewcastle United’s match away to
Aston Villa on Friday night has become
the first Premier League game to be
postponed because of a Covid-19
outbreak at a top-flight club.
It is thought that at least six members
of the Newcastle first-team squad are
self-isolating and there are now
concerns about their next game at St
James’ Park against West Bromwich
Albion on Saturday week.
The Times has learnt the squad will
have more tests this week and that the
training ground will stay closed. The
club will wait to see if more players test
positive before deciding whether to
appeal for the West Brom game to be
postponed as well. The Premier League
and Newcastle officials have opened an
investigation into the outbreak, which
is thought to have affected at least ten
Continued on page 66Romain Grosjean has said that he “saw
death coming” and will be “marked for
life” after he survived a horrific
accident in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The 34-year-old said he feared for his
life on Sunday after crashing through a
steel barrier at 137mph, splitting his
Haas car in two and causing a huge fire-
ball. Speaking from his hospital bed in
Bahrain, Grosjean said: “It is like a re-
birth for me. I will be marked for life by
this accident. I saw death coming, I had
no other option but to get out of there.”
Grosjean was caught in the blaze for
28 seconds but suffered relatively
minor injuries. He will miss this
weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix, as will
Lewis Hamilton, who has tested
positive for coronavirus. The French
Continued on page 63Ajax beaten 1-0 as Klopp’s side reach last 16, report and analysis pages 68-69
Champions League set for radical shake-up