- UEFA to make several changes for 2024-25 European football season
- A big change will be the change of the theme music of the European football body
- LISTEN NOW: It’s all just beginning!Available wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday and Thursday
UEFA has sparked controversy online after revealing the new Champions League TV introduction for the 2024-25 football season, with some fans wondering whether the new theme music is a belated April Fool’s joke.
This comes as the governing body is set to introduce some of its biggest changes to the iconic competition, with this year’s tournament set to follow a new format, moving away from its traditional group stage system and instead adopting a revamped league phase.
But some fans have not taken kindly to some of the new changes being introduced, with many wondering why UEFA has decided to alter the eerie Champions League music that has marked the stage for so many iconic nights in European football since the 1992-93 season.
The anthem, officially titled ‘Champions League’, has been the setting for many great European football nights over the years, and players around the world have dreamed of walking out to the tune of the main tune, which is based on George Frideric Handel’s Zadok the Priest.
UEFA has sparked controversy online after unveiling the Champions League’s new television system for the 2024-25 football season
This comes as the governing body is set to introduce some of its biggest changes to the iconic competition this season.
In the revamped TV intro, some of the competition’s top stars, including Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Jnr, are seen playing along to the new theme tune that plays as background music.
While the main melody doesn’t drastically depart from the original anthem, fans online have noticed that UEFA has adopted a different composition that features new vocals.
While it remains to be seen whether the original tune will be played before games, UEFA’s new TV intro has been branded “terrible” by some fans online, who also questioned whether the change “was a joke”.
“Please tell me this is an April Fool’s joke in August. Please tell me this isn’t true please?” wrote one on X (formerly Twitter).
Another wrote: “Terrible. Also, there is still a sentence missing in Italian and Spanish, the two most important championships of the Champions League.”
“This is horrible,” added another, while one fan was particularly baffled, writing: “WTF” with an “angry face” emoji.
2023-24 Champions League TV presentation
Several players, including Erling Haaland (right), also appear in the new TV introduction.
Football fans have been voicing their disapproval at the change to the iconic theme music, with some asking: “Is this an April Fool’s joke in August?”
This year’s new structure will no longer see teams play three home and away opponents in a league format.
“I don’t like it, the original is epic, this is meh,” said another, while another wrote: “UEFA are trying so hard to make football unwatchable.”
This year’s new structure will no longer see teams play three opponents home and away.
Teams will now compete in a league structure as they attempt to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament and will play against eight different opponents, hosting four home games and four away games.
UEFA says the new format will allow teams to “test themselves against a wider range of opponents”, with the top eight teams in the league automatically qualifying for the round of 16, while teams ranked ninth to 24th in the standings will take part in a two-legged knockout playoff to determine the last eight places.