UEFA plans ‘Lisbon Final Eight’ to conclude 2019/2020 Champions League 

UEFA is set to ratify plans to complete the 2019/2020 Champions League by hosting a ‘Final Eight’ tournament held over 12-days in Lisbon this August.

Reuters International has reported that the proposal is UEFA’s preferred option for completing its flagship tournament, which will be voted on tomorrow by UEFA’s executive committee. 

European football’s governing body is reported to have ‘reached consensus’ with competing clubs on how to finish the tournament.

The Champions League will resume with Premier League duo Man City and Chelsea FC fulfilling their respective ‘last 16’ ties against Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.  

 Meanwhile, Serie A and La Liga champions Juventus and Barcelona will be required to complete their last 16 ties against Olympique Lyonnais and SC Napoli.

Scheduled for 12-15 August, UEFA will then host ‘single-leg’ quarterfinal games played at the Lisbon venues of Benfica’s Estadio da Luz and Sporting Lisbon’s Jose Alvalade stadium.

UEFA plans to complete the Champions League final by 23 August, avoiding a clash with the kick-off of major European football leagues in September.

The final eight tournament will be held under the public safety arrangements of the Portuguese government, which will see matches likely played behind closed doors. UEFA is understood to have left the door open for possible changes should public health conditions in Portugal allow. 

Teams that have already qualified for the quarter-finals stages are Paris St Germain, Atalanta, Atletico Madrid and RB Leipzig.

Meanwhile, UEFA has also proposed a Final Eight format for the Europa League, to be held across the German venues of Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Gelsenkirchen and Cologne.

At present, UEFA is hoping to start next year’s European football season by hosting the UEFA Super Cup final in Budapest on 24 September.