DUSSELDORF – Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich oppose a Champions League reform and a reportedly planned summer tour of the elite event with a series of matches in the United States, chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said on Wednesday.
News reports on the weekend said that Juventus and European Club
Association chief Andrea Agnelli and US billionaire Stephen Ross were
looking into a "Champions League on Tour" round of matches with 16
top clubs in the US in the pre-season.
Such matches could replace the so-called "International Champions
Cup" in the US and Asia in which several top clubs, including Munich,
participate to raise their image and marketing activities abroad.
But Rummenigge said at a sports convention in Dusseldorf that such a
new competition over two or three weeks would "make no sense" at all.
"Our coach, our players would be all over us if we participated,"
Rummenigge said.
Rummenigge also voiced opposition to plans of a changed Champions
League with teams playing in groups of eight instead of four, for
more matches. A decision could be reached by the end of the year.
"The players can hardly breath or regenerate. We have reached a point
where a little less is actually a little more," Rummenigge said.
"Don't repair what's not broken. The Champions League is everything,
but not broken."
However, Rummenigge was much more positive about the new Club World
Cup format with 24 teams in summer from 2021 onwards, instead of with
seven teams in December as it is played now.
"That makes total sense," Rummenigge said, naming the December slot
"nonsense."