UEFA has determined to maintain additional time alive in its elite membership competitions, shelving a proposal that might have despatched tied knockout video games straight to penalty shootouts.
The concept – floated by UEFA’s Club Competitions Committee – sought to cut back fixture congestion and shield gamers from the rising bodily toll of a jam-packed soccer calendar.
But after weighing the professionals and cons, Europe’s governing physique opted for custom over transformation.
“There was pressure to scrap extra time to ease player workload,” reported The Times’ Martyn Ziegler. “But concerns over fairness and gameplay integrity prevailed.”
The change would have affected the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League knockout rounds from the final 16 onward – skipping the 30-minute extra time interval and deciding deadlocked ties through penalties.
Advocates believed it might assist groups deal with more and more tight schedules, particularly with worldwide tournaments now filling nearly each summer season.
But opponents identified key flaws.
Extra time, whereas bodily demanding, is seen as a fairer check of endurance and technique, particularly in two-legged ties.
There have been additionally issues it might hand the house staff within the second leg an unfair edge, an issue UEFA has tried to mitigate since scrapping the away targets rule in 2021.
Since then, 37 Champions League matches have gone into additional time, 15 of which proceeded to penalty shootouts.
In the Europa and Conference Leagues, greater than half of extra time matches ended from the spot.
Another concern? That smaller or defensively minded groups would play for penalties, leading to duller, extra conservative soccer – a situation UEFA needs to keep away from because it encourages attacking play below the competitors’s new Swiss-style league format.
This season marks the debut of that format, changing the basic eight-group setup with a single 36-team league desk.
The high 8 golf equipment advance on to the spherical of 16, whereas groups ranked ninth to twenty fourth should navigate playoff rounds for a spot within the knockouts.
UEFA famous that this new construction is already driving groups to prioritize wins over attracts, particularly with qualification stakes rising within the unified league.
So for now, additional time survives the reduce – a call that preserves drama, encourages offensive soccer, and retains penalties the place they belong: as a final resort, not a default.
Source: www.dailysabah.com