Champions League and Europa League prize money will be cut over the next five seasons as Europe's soccer governing body UEFA grapples with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Times has reported.

UEFA has informed its member associations that they lost 514 million pounds ($666.40 million) following the reduction in both television and sponsorship income after delays in the knockout stages last season, the report said.

Manchester United and Liverpool are in talks with Europe's elite clubs to join a new FIFA-backed tournament that would reshape the sport's global soccer landscape, Sky News reported on Tuesday.

Manchester United declined to comment on the report, Liverpool did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman believes his side are not among the favorites to win this season’s Champions League with the Catalans having made a stuttering start to the new season.

Speaking ahead of Tuesday's visit of Hungarians Ferencvaros in their Champions League Group G opener, Koeman played down media talk that the Catalans could be European champions.

“When you’re at Barcelona you always want to be there fighting for trophies, be it in LaLiga or Europe. We aren’t the favorites, but we can go far,” he told a news conference.

Edinson Cavani's hopes of making his Manchester United debut against former club Paris St Germain in the Champions League were dashed after the Uruguayan striker was left out of the traveling squad on Monday.

United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirmed Cavani as well as captain Harry Maguire, Mason Greenwood, Eric Bailly and Jesse Lingard have missed the trip to the French capital for Tuesday's opening group stage match. Solskjaer confirmed Cavani still needs to work on his fitness levels, while Maguire has sustained a minor knock.

There’s nothing quite like sitting down for a Champions League match: the pregame pomp and pageantry, the 90 minutes of blistering, end-to-end action, the postgame trading of shirts and collective catching of breath. But that all is coming to an end, at least for the average viewer wondering how to watch Champions League in US for 2020-2021. Some fans may love it, many will hate it — all will have to deal with it (or just watch it in Spanish yet again).

About once every transfer window, there's a transfer that makes you stop, do a double take, and say "wow."

When PSV Eindhoven announced the signing of Mario Götze on a free transfer last week, many soccer fans (myself included) were shocked to see a global superstar leave Germany for the lesser Eredivisie. 

HONG KONG — Iranian striker Issa Alekasir has been handed a six-month ban by the Asian Football Confederation for a “discriminatory gesture” just hours before he was due to lead his club Persepolis into the semifinals of the Asian Champions League.

The 30-year-old forward, who has scored four times in the last three games in the competition, received the ban after making a slant-eyed gesture to television cameras after scoring against Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor in the quarterfinals on Wednesday evening.

The clubs competing in the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League group stage have been announced and boy oh boy do we have some great games to look forward to. Let’s skip the chit-chat and show you the full look of the groups and the takeaways.

The official result of the #UCLdraw!

Most exciting group stage match? pic.twitter.com/d7ynuEjPq3

SALONIKA, Greece — Danish side Midtjylland qualified for the Champions League group stage for the first time in stunning fashion on Wednesday after scoring three goals in the last seven minutes to beat more fancied Slavia Prague 4-1 on aggregate in their playoff tie.

They were joined by Russians Krasnodar, who ground down PAOK Salonika 2-1 in the return leg in Greece after beating them by the same score last week, while Salzburg eased to a 3-1 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv for a 5-2 overall victory.