Champions League kick-off times to move

The Champions League is to get an overhaul in 2018-19, and it won't just affect the system of the competition (with four direct places for the four big leagues), but also the start times of the games.

Start times of 19:00 and 21:00 for the Champions League

According to German magazine Sport Bild, as of the 2018-19 Champions League campaign the standard 20:45 kick-off time will be consigned to the bin (except for games in Russia and Kazakhstan) with new times of 19:00 and 21:00 being adopted, emulating the current Europa League start times (in Europe's second competition the second games kick off at 21:05. The Champions League games will continue to be played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

More games available to watch = more revenue

The idea behind the move is apparently to increase income through the marketing and the sale of TV rights for the competition, with fans being able to watch more games than is currently the case with just one slot on each match-day.

Full screen A highly stereotypical view of what there's about to be more of. Fuse (Getty Images/Fuse)

With two slots it will also be possible to avoid games from each respective country clashing with each other, meaning for example in Spain that football fans would be able to watch all four games involving Spanish sides in the group stages each week. However to achieve that the draw for the competition will need have even more conditions applied to which clubs go into each pot.