UEFA Champions League Gets New Dates As 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar Forces New Schedule

• Champions League dates have been significantly changed due to the FIFA World Cup starting in November
• Real Madrid are the reigning champions of Europe’s elite competition, beating Liverpool to win it for the fourteenth time
• According to UEFA, next season’s Champions League will kick off a week earlier than usual, while the final is billed for June 10, 2023

Next season’s UEFA Champions League has been scheduled to kick off earlier than usual due to the FIFA World Cup holding in November and December.

Europe’s elite competition will witness significant changes in date as Spanish giants Real Madrid will hope they can retain the title which they won for the fourteenth time in their history.

FIFA made a decision to stage the World Cup late this year, which comes in the middle of European league football and due to this, domestic and continental competitions have been adjusted, Football.London reports.

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According to the European football’s governing body, the first group-stage fixtures will be played on September 6 or 7 - a week earlier than usual and then the second round of matches scheduled to hold two weeks after.

The preliminary phase will continue between November 1 and 2 - almost a month earlier than a regular season, while the last group games will be staged early in December.

A statement by Mirror claims the second round will commence on February 14 and 21 while the reverse fixtures are set for March 7 and 14.

It was gathered that the quarter-final matches will be played on 11/12 April and 18/19 April, with the last-four fixtures taking place under a month later across 9/10 May and 16/17 May.

The Ataturk Stadium Istanbul will host the final match which is scheduled slightly later this time round for June 10, 2023.

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FIFA could introduce robot linesmen during Qatar World Cup

Meanwhile, the president of the world’s football governing body FIFA, Gianni Infantino, has considered introducing the “semi-automated offside” system at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

It was gathered that the system which uses 10 cameras to track 29 body points of each player was first adopted at the Club World Cup which was won by Premier League club Liverpool.

The technology was also used at the recent Arab Cup which was held inside four of the eight World Cup stadiums in Doha.

Salah begins vacation in Egypt

Sports Brief earlier reported that Liverpool and Egypt star Mohamed Salah has begun his holidays in his country after a long season in Europe.

The 29-year-old returned to Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Guinea over the weekend.

The Egyptian forward had a fine season in England with Liverpool, where the Reds won two trophies in the 2021/22 campaign.