In an interview given to American football podcast Men In Blazers, head of UEFA Aleksander Ceferin said that he is still open to hold Champions League games in the USA.
These rumours of having the European teams playing outside of Europe and especially in the US have been here since Ceferin was appointed in 2016.
UEFA's president has yet again insisted on the possibility of holding Champions League games in America. However he has admitted that no talks has been held until now:
We started to discuss about that [Champions League games in America] but then there is Euro 2024. This year is Istanbul [Champions League final], 2024 in London, 2025 in Munich. And after that let's see. It's possible, it's possible. I would be aware if there was any discussion about the playing of Champions [League] matches outside of Europe. I don't know anything with respect to that.
Football is growing in the USA
The Slovenian lawyer said that his trip to the US made him realise how much Football has grown over there in recent years.
Ceferin compared Basketball with football as he claimed that nowadays football is a loved sport in the USA. He added that Americans will be willing to pay to come and see European teams playing:
Football is extremely popular in United States these days. Americans are willing to pay this amount [gestures high with hand] for best and nothing for the less. So they will follow European football as basketball lovers in Europe follow NBA.
What shocked me actually is that our Euro [2020] finals, Europe national team finals, was watched by more people in United States than NBA Finals. What shocked me is that 30 matches of the Euros, every match viewership was a Super Bowl viewership. So I think we are doing well.
The Champions League has just been growing more and more in the USA with a record breaking amount of viewers on CBS for the 2022 final. Real Madrid v Liverpool attracted 2.76 million viewers on the American channel.
It's hard to know how Champions League ties in the US would work. It would be very hard to get teams to sacrifice home games in the group stages, and even moreso in the knockout phase. Having the Champions League final Stateside would be a massive departure, and no doubt the Gulf states would be interested in getting involved as well.
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