The Daily Bee (March 28th, 2018): Rule changes for Champions League and Europa League

• UEFA changes rules

UEFA has announced several rule changes for next season’s Champions and Europa League tournaments. Here the most important changes:

1. A fourth substitution will be allowed during extra time
2. During the finals 23 players (instead of 18 players for all other matches) may be included on the match sheet.
3. New kick-off times have been introduced: “UEFA Champions League play-offs, group-stage games, round of 16 matches, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final will kick off at 21:00CET. However, on every group-stage matchday, two of the Tuesday and two of the Wednesday matches will kick off at 18:55CET.”
4. Clubs will be allowed to register three new players without any restrictions during the winter transfer window.

In general I would say those are solid changes except for the kick-off times. This is essentially yet another change to increase revenue because TV-rights could be split even further even though it presents even more problems for fans especially those who want to be in the stadium for those games.

• BVB in for Lucas Tousart? (calciomercato.com)

According to calciomercato Borussia Dortmund are one of many teams interested in Olympique Lyon’s Lucas Tousart. The 20-year-old defensive midfielder has drawn attention because of his good performances this season. Several other clubs are keeping an eye on Tousart like Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. The rumored fee would be around 25€ million.

Daily Buzz: Any thoughts on the rule changes?