THE Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has announced a new format for the UEFA Champions League.
This newspaper reports UEFA as saying the new format will begin with the 2024/25 season of European club football.
This promises an exciting new era for the UEFA Champions League as the popular group stage has been knocked off.
The pivotal change in the reforms announced by the UEFA Executive Committee on Monday is the departure from the current format’s group stage system.
The present Champions League group stage includes 32 participants divided into eight groups of four.
However, from the 2024/25 season, 36 clubs will participate in the Champions League league phase (former group stage), giving four more sides the opportunity to compete against the best clubs in Europe.
Those 36 clubs will participate in a single league competition in which all 36 competing clubs are ranked together.
Under the new format, teams will play eight matches in the new league phase (former group stage).
They will no longer play three opponents twice – home and away – but will instead face fixtures against eight different teams, playing half of those matches at home and half of them away.
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.
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.
All games before the final will continue to be played in midweek, recognising the importance of the domestic calendar of games across Europe, while the final will continue to be played on a Saturday.
According to UEFA, the decision to tweak the format was taken after extensive consultations with key stakeholders in the European football community.
“UEFA has clearly shown that we are fully committed to respecting the fundamental values of sport and to defending the key principle of open competitions, with qualification based on sporting merit, fully in line with the values and solidarity-based European sports model,” said UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin.
He went further to say: “I am really pleased that it was a unanimous decision of the UEFA Executive Committee, with the European Club Association, European Leagues and national associations all agreeing with the proposal made. Another proof that European football is more united than ever.”
According to a report on UEFA website, 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.
“There is a reason that European football is one of the world’s most successful and popular sports.
“It never stands still. Since the inaugural competition, known as the European Champion Clubs’ Cup, kicked off in 1955, UEFA has continuously evolved and adapted the UEFA Champions League to keep pace with wider changes in the game,” it stated.