A senior European club official told ESPN that the Champions League is considering holding a summer edition and potentially scrapping the group stage altogether. The ECA, which aims to "bring football clubs and supporters closer together", is expected to discuss how to improve the game across Europe.
Currently, European clubs have the chance to play in the Champions League every season. Under their proposal, these games would be moved out of Europe altogether and only will be played between clubs from different continents. That could mean that local fans could get a much bigger taste of the top European rugby players, if not every player for many years to come.
Despite the huge amount of support for a Americas Cup in Asia, Australia and New Zealand have been floated as possible hosts because of their proximity to the United States, China and the Middle East.
There will be a huge outcry from fans for the game being moved out of the continent.
The executives' move to examine the possibility of sending some group games out of Europe will no doubt be worrying to football fans in countries such as France who have supported their national teams in every World Cup since 1994, while also cheering on their favourite clubs. The nature of fandom and the interest that fans have in European competition could also give their side an advantage at the upcoming Super Cup.
The Champions League is back and ready to kick off again after a summer break. The 2020/2021 season will see all 32 teams in the group stage playing one another twice, with group winners advancing to the quarter-finals and also facing four teams from the same group that may be eliminated by Brazil.
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