Champions League Final To Be Played In New York?

The Champions League final could be played outside Europe for the first time, Aleksander Ceferin, the new president of UEFA revealed on Thursday.

"It might be an idea in future but we have to speak about it," said Ceferin, who last month succeeded Michel Platini as UEFA president.

Pointing out pan-European travel time can be as long as flights to the United States, he added: "To go from Portugal to Azerbaijan, for example, is almost the same or the same as if you go to New York. For the fans, it's no problem, but we should see. It's a European competition so let's think about it.

UEFA to Introduce Bidding Process For Cities to Host Champions League Final?

There was never a Champions League final outside Europe, while London hosted the final not less than seven times.

Aleksander Ceferin also declared himself open to introduce a competitive bidding process for the right to host it. The finals of UEFA's club competitions have until now been awarded without a bidding a process.

"The bidding process should be very clear because if you get the Champions League finals or Europa league finals as a political favour then it's not OK," Ceferin said. "With a clear bidding procedure, I will protect also the administration and myself because, whoever tries to call us, to push us, to ask us for such a favour, we will have a clear answer, 'Sorry there are clear rules. We cannot do it'."

Ceferin also revealed the semi-finals could be played on a Saturday in future.

"There are some ideas about that because then China is not asleep because it's Saturday and they can watch," Ceferin said. "But there are many problems concerning that with the calendar of the leagues. National leagues are too important. "You have the Premier League, which is very strong. It's an idea that came out but it's too early to say anything concrete on it."

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