Change is on the horizon for the world’s most prestigious club football competition. With UEFA’s recent announcement, the Champions League is set to undergo a significant transformation, introducing a new format that promises to reshape the landscape of European football. So how will it work? Let’s delve into the details and explore what this means for the future of the beautiful game.
New Format
In the current format, 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four. However, starting next year, the Champions League will embrace a revamped format aimed at enhancing the excitement and competitiveness of the tournament (or so they say at least), by expanding the total teams to 36. So how will it work?
Key highlights of the new format include:
1- Expanded Participation: The number of participating teams will increase from 32 to 36, with a greater representation from across Europe. All 36 clubs will engage in a single league competition, where they will be ranked together.
2- Group Stage Restructuring: The traditional group stage will be replaced by a single league format, where each team will face eight opponents, four at home, four away – forming a table. From there, the top eight teams go through to the round of 16, while 16 more play off to complete the knockout lineup. To determine the eight different opponents, the teams will initially be ranked in four seeding pots. Each team will then be drawn to play two opponents from each of these pots, playing one match against a team from each pot at home, and one away.
UEFA is hoping that this format will deliver the chance for fans of seeing the top teams go head to head more often and earlier in the competition while resulting in more competitive matches for every club across the board.
How will the four extra Champions League group stage spots be allocated?
Qualification for the Champions League will continue to be open and depend on a club’s final position in the previous season’s domestic league competition combined with each association’s position in the association club coefficient ranking. Check out current rankings here.
The basis of the access list will remain the same as for the current season, and the additional four slots available in 2024/25 will be allocated as follows:
- Slot one: This place will go to the club ranked third in the championship of the association in fifth position in the access list, which is determined by the UEFA association club coefficient ranking.
- Slot two: This place will be awarded to a domestic champion by extending from four to five the number of clubs qualifying via the Champions path of the competition’s qualifying process, which will consist of four qualifying rounds.
This is the way in which the fifth-place team in England / Italy / Spain may be able to qualify
- Slots three and four: These places will go to the associations with the best collective performance by their clubs in the previous season (i.e. the association club coefficient of the previous season, which is based on the total number of club coefficient points obtained by each club from an association divided by the number of participating clubs from that association). Those two associations will each earn one automatic place in the league phase (‘European Performance Spot’) for the club ranked next-best in their domestic league behind those clubs that have already qualified directly for the league phase.
Will the format for the knockout phase change?
The results of each match will decide the overall ranking in the new league, with three points for a win and one for a draw still applying.
The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the round of 16, while the teams finishing in 9th to 24th place will compete in a two-legged knock-out phase play-off to secure their path to the last 16 of the competition. Teams that finish 25th or lower will be eliminated, with no access to the UEFA Europa League.
In the knockout phase, the teams which finished between 9th and 16th will be seeded in the knockout phase play-off draw, meaning they will face a team placed 17th to 24th – with, in principle, the return leg at home. The eight clubs which prevail in the knockout phase play-offs will then progress to the round of 16, where they will each face one of the top-eight finishers, who will be seeded in the round of 16.
From the round of 16 onwards, the competition will continue to follow its existing format of knockout rounds leading to the final staged at a neutral venue selected by UEFA.
Will the Europa League and Europa Conference League formats change from 2024/25 too?
Yes. Similar format changes will also be applied to the UEFA Europa League (eight matches and therefore eight different opponents in the league phase) and UEFA Europa Conference League, which will be called the UEFA Conference League as of 2024/25 (six matches and therefore six different opponents in the league phase), with both competitions also featuring 36 teams in the league phase.
Champions League New Format – How Will it Work?
Due to all the changes, starting next year the draw will be made using computers. Gone are the times where former players and legends of the game would hand pick the balls/teams to form the groups. Unfortunately, keeping the old method would require around 900 balls to complete the draw.
Are you in favor of all these changes? Do you think they will affect the game positively? Let us know what you think below!
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