UEFA at the heart of scandal ahead of Champions League draw

European football authorities have allegedly plagiarised their new Champions League format and are set to face legal action.

Chilean sports consultant Leandro Shara has threatened to sue European football’s governing body UEFA for “unauthorised and unfair use” of the “league phase” it is introducing for its three club competitions this season.

Often referred to as the ‘Swiss model’ because it is inspired by a format used in major chess tournaments, the new formula will see participants in each UEFA competition split into three leagues of 36 teams, but will only have to play eight matches against eight different opponents, four at home and four away.

UEFA’s not-entirely-revolutionary idea

Because of its complexity, each team’s eight opponents will be decided by computer, rather than drawn into glass bowls, at the draw in Monaco on Thursday and Friday, with the teams in each competition split into four groups of nine clubs. Each team will play two opponents from each pot, with the fixtures announced on Saturday.

This format replaces the group stages that had been part of the Champions League since its introduction in 1991, the year before the European Cup was renamed a knockout competition.

This is not, however, a true “Swiss” format, as it would involve a new draw after each round of matches – pitting the winners against the losers, with the eventual winner being the competitor with the highest cumulative score – which would be impossible for a cross-border football competition with a global television audience.

This is where Shara’s complaint comes in, claiming to have invented the hybrid system chosen by UEFA and arguing that it should be called the “Leandro Shara system”, a format he copyrighted in Chile in 2006, or simply the “pots” format.