UEFA Champions League logo, Getty Images 01 November 2025, 13:43

The Chilean sports consulting company MatchVision accused UEFA of illegally using the format of the European cup tournaments. It is reported The Athletic.

From the 2024/25 season, UEFA has changed the system of conducting the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, replacing the group stage with the league stage according to the Swiss system. The number of tournament participants was also increased from 32 to 36.

MatchVision claims that it was their consultant Leandro Chara who developed this model back in 2006 and repeatedly proposed it to UEFA. Moreover, according to the company, FIFA has officially recognized the system as the intellectual property of MatchVision.

The case was brought to court in Spain in April and later transferred to the court in Lausanne. The amount of the lawsuit is 20 million euros, another 200 thousand Shara demands as personal compensation.

In addition, the company asks to recognize Shara as the author of the format and to mention his name when holding European Cups.

“This misappropriation of intellectual property, disclosed during the official draw in August 2024, compels us to take action”– said Shara.

UEFA has already responded to the lawsuit, calling the accusations baseless: “MatchVision’s claims are baseless at best and are just another item on a list of similar actions. UEFA will defend its position, although this is unlikely to be a difficult task.”