UEFA has just made a historic proposal, which is to completely eliminate extra time in the European Cup in the knockout stages. The idea will need to be approved and accepted by UEFA members, including many clubs, before it can be officially applied.
The main reason for this proposal, most easily seen, is that the health of the players is being eroded to the point of danger. The schedule for a European player from a big team is overloaded. They have to play domestic matches, continental tournaments, qualifying stages and matches at the national team level.
It is impossible to confirm the removal of extra time in the European Knock-out round will help players improve their physical health. However, it is less or less, the players may not worry about the weekend to play the domestic tournament but in the middle of the week, they have to squeeze more than 120 minutes in the European Cup.
For UEFA, eliminating extra time is just one of the front lines in the overall plan to protect the health of the players. In parallel, UEFA also wants to improve the quality of matches, not wasting too much on periods that are often slow to develop like extra time.
In fact, UEFA has applied the removal of extra time in the European Super Cup. In addition, small friendly matches in the UEFA system have also begun to abandon extra time. This shows that this is not a temporary proposal, it is a common trend in world football today.
Advantages of eliminating extra time in European Cup knockout matches
Schedule: The total playing time of the players will be shortened.
Reduced injuries: Players are not allowed to play more than 120 minutes, so the collisions will be less.
Excessive emotions: A series of rotating shots create a stressful and unstable peak that attracts millions of viewers.
Planning for better TV: Create favorable conditions for arranging broadcast schedules for TV shows.
Every proposal has opinions in favor and against. For those who want to keep the extra half, the arguments are made more historically. In the past, many knockout matches in European competitions have been dramatic, even unbelievable comebacks. The most recent was Man United's classic win over Lyon in the Europa League quarter-finals. The "Red Devils" were behind 2-4 in extra time but scored a 3-goal goal in just the last 7 minutes.
In addition to eliminating extra time, UEFA is considering other changes that could affect the format of the knockout round such as: Avoiding clashes between teams from the same country before the quarter-finals, giving home advantage to the highest-ranked team in the qualifying round and reducing the number of competition days. These changes are expected to create a new, more fair and sustainable tournament system.
UEFA has not yet set a date for the proposal to remove the extra time, but it will likely be approved at the end of this season to be applied from the 2025-2026 season.
