UEFA considering eliminating extra time in Champions League and other changes

The overload of work for football players has been an ongoing debate for a long time, and it gets clearer every year that solutions need to to be taken to protect players' health, with many players, forced to play sometimes every three or four days, suffering many avoidable injuries.

In this context, UEFA is reportedly considering eliminating extra time, and if a knockout game ends in a draw after 90 minutes, a penalty shootout would take place, instead of the usual 30 minute extra time. That would only apply to knockout stages, the final would be the only case where a traditional extra time would take place. That is according to German tabloid BILD, via Relevo.

UEFA completely renovated the Champions League system this year, and is about to do the same with Women's next year, as well as the creation of a new women's cup, the Women's Europa Cup.

New changes in the League Phase to reward the top 8

The new Champions League format features a League phase, with the first eight teams spared from a new knock-out play-off stage, but the reality is that it doesn't affect much whether teams finish first or eighth (as Liverpool knows very well).

For that reason, another change UEFA is considering is rewarding those top eight teams with the benefit of playing not only the second leg of the round of 16 at home, but also quarter-finals and semi-finals. This comes after Arsenal, which ended third in the League stage, played the second leg of the quarter-finals at the Bernabéu, against Real Madrid that didn't finish between the top 8.