People are only just realising that the UEFA Europa Conference League will have a new name next season.
On Thursday evening, Aston Villa visit Greek giants Olympiacos in the UEFA Conference League semi-final second leg, with Unai Emery’s men hoping to overturn a 4-2 deficit and make the competition final in Athens.
The winner of this evening’s tie will take on Fiorentina, who on Wednesday edged past Club Brugge 4-3 on aggregate, courtesy of a Lucas Beltran spot-kick in the 85th minute of the second leg.
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The UEFA Europa Conference League was introduced in the 2021-22 season, with Roma claiming the inaugural title before West Ham won their first European trophy since 1965 the following season.
And after three years of existence, the competition will be renamed from the 2024-25 season. Last June a UEFA executive committee voted that the UEFA Europa Conference League should be renamed the UEFA Conference League.
A statement at the time read: “Introduced under the ‘Europa’ umbrella at the start of the 2021-24 commercial cycle, the new competition has quickly established itself amongst a broad audience after two successful seasons.
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“Research amongst fans as well as commercial partners has found that removing ‘Europa’ from the name of the competition will enable further development as a stand-alone competition and this proposed change was approved by the UEFA executive committee. It will be effective in the new cycle, as of the 2024-25 season.
“Together with the UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Conference League will continue to deliver ‘Thursday Night Football’ to fans across Europe and beyond.
“A strong link between the competitions will remain in place as both brand identities will remain very close, and both competitions will continue to be sold to broadcast partners and sponsors together.”
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Reacting to UEFA’s decision, one person on X said: “Why not just call it the UEFA Cup? No need to reinvent the wheel.”
A second added: “What will be the abbreviation? UCL same as the Champions League?”
A third said: “Abbreviating that is going to cause chaos.”
A fourth wrote: “I honestly always thought it was UEFA Conference League.”
Topics: Aston Villa, Unai Emery, Fiorentina, West Ham, Roma
Chris Byfield