The Champions League final could be played outside of Europe for the very first time, according to UEFA PresidentAleksander Ceferin, who sat down for an exclusive interview with theAssociated Presson Thursday.
Ceferin said that he will revise an open bidding system for the right to host Europe's biggest final, and has no qualms with the event being held in New York.
"I think it might be an idea in future but we have to speak about it," Ceferin said, highlighting how travel times across Europe can be as long as flights to the United States.
"To go from Portugal to Azerbaijan for example is almost the same or the same as if you go to New York. For the fans it's no problem but we should see. It's a European competition so let's think about it.
"The bidding process should be very clear because if you get the Champions League finals or Europa league finals as a political favor then it's not OK," Ceferin said. "With a clear bidding procedure I will protect also the administration and myself because whoever tries to call us, to push us, to ask us for such a favor we will have a clear answer, 'Sorry there are clear rules we cannot do it.'"
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In the past,UEFA has settled on final venues without any sort of tendering, and host stadiums were decided by their board behind closed doors.
Ceferin, who was having his first major interview since taking over as President from Michel Platini, is willing to try new things without damaging the integrity of the organisation, as well as the tournament.
But he isn't willing to compromise the success of the competition by changing kickoff timesjust to suit TV audiencesin growing markets in places likeAsia, where most games start when the majority of the continent is asleep.
"The Champions League is the best sporting product in the world," he said.
"From a financial point of view it's not ideal.We should think also about other markets, but how to do it exactly I'm not sure yet. China is financially interesting and the U.S. is not just financially interesting, but football is growing there.
"There are some ideas about that because then China is not asleep because it's Saturday and they can watch.
"But there are many problems concerning that with the calendar of the leagues. National leagues are too important.
"You have the Premier League which is very strong. It's an idea that came out (semifinals at the weekend) but it's too early to say anything concrete on it.
"We didn't want to vote on it as it was too early.We simply didn't get any information about it. Nothing. Just shall we expand or not. We said we cannot say."