Aleksander Ceferin, president of UEFA, opened the door for the Champions League to play matches in the United States. The Slovenian president gave an exclusive interview to Roger Bennett in Men in Blazers and dropped a bombshell that could materialize as of 2026. “The Champions League in Los Angeles, New York or maybe Atlanta? It’s possible. We started talking about it but then the World Cup came, in 2024 it’s the Euro Cup, this year the final is in Istanbul, in 2024 in London and in 2025 in Munich. And after that, let’s see. It is possible, it is possible,” Ceferin said.
For some time there has been speculation about the possibility of seeing a Champions League final in new venues and markets. UEFA and ECA have had the matter on the table for some time, as this newspaper reported in September. A challenge that could materialize in 2026 according to Ceferin’s words. Before, UEFA, has committed all the venues for the great match of the competition: Istanbul, Wembley, Munich…
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Ceferin explained the importance of being able to play games in North America: “Soccer is extremely popular in the United States these days. Americans are willing to pay top dollar for the best. So they will follow European soccer like basketball lovers in Europe follow the NBA. It is a very important promising market for the future. What happens is that we are selling the rights very well. Here the commercialization is completely different from that of Europe”.
The Slovenian president added in Men in Blazerswhich was pleasantly surprised by the audience in the United States of the Euro 2020 matches. “The Eurocup finals were watched by more people in the United States than the NBA finals. What surprised me is that in 30 Euro Cup games, the audience for each game was a Super Bowl audience. So I think we’re doing well.” Although he warned of possible problems with the Champions League: “The problem is the time difference. We would have a much larger audience if the hours were different.”