The Champions League and other European club soccer tournaments have decided to take a giant step towards US professional sports leagues.
In transatlantic basketball, baseball, American football, ice hockey, and soccer leagues, it has long been customary for teams divided into conferences and regional subgroups to compete not only among themselves, but also to travel across the country.
From now on, this system will also be applied in European football – in all three tournaments in the regular season, the teams will be ranked in the overall table, and the best 8 will immediately advance to the round of 16.
Not a week off
It is often said that football never stops in the world – not even for a week.
And so it was this summer, when the new UEFA Champions League season kicked off six days before the European Championship final, in which Spain beat England 2-1 in Berlin. Six first qualifying round matches were then played across Europe.
The culmination of the tournament will take place almost a year later, in 2025. The final will take place on May 31 at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Between the two dates, there are whole months of football matches according to the updated model, which will surprise many.
Back in May 2022, UEFA approved a new competition format for the Champions League and other tournaments.
How this will look in reality, we will see from September when the group stage begins.
Only this year it will not be called the group stage, but the league stage.
What are the major changes? First, 36 teams instead of 32.
One big league instead of eight mini-tournaments in groups of four.
Eight games against eight different teams instead of playing three group opponents home and away.
At the end of the league stage, the top eight teams will go directly to the round of 16. The other 16 will compete in a play-off for the right to join them.
And the last 12 clubs fall from further competitions.
The UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Conference League will also play like this, only in the lowest-ranked tournament, the clubs will play 6 matches each.
More money for everyone?
The more the merrier, right?
More matches means more revenue for most of the parties involved. Higher revenue from ticket sales and higher bonuses for clubs.
More spectacle for the fans, more lucrative sponsorship deals for the clubs and more expensive TV deals with UEFA, which reinvests a large proportion of its revenue into the further development of European football.
This season, UEFA will distribute 3 billion euros to European clubs. 317 million euros, of which 2 billion 467 million will award to the participants of the Champions League.
Broadcast revenue is expected to increase these amounts further in the future, with the Champions League now playing 189 matches per season instead of the previous 125.
However, even schoolchildren learn in chemistry lessons that salt dissolves in water only up to a certain limit. Football cannot be played every day.
The schedule is busy
More and more matches mean a packed competition schedule. This has long been a hot topic in football.
The number of games for the strongest clubs and national teams continues to increase, so coaches and players have started talking about exhaustion.
Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp spoke for many in May this year: “The players are overworked. You cut one game, but you add three Champions League games for the best teams!”
With more Champions League matches to be played in the autumn and some in the spring, UEFA had to squeeze in extra match days. It did so by extending the league phase into the winter and adding fixtures to the calendar in 2025. January 21, 22 and 29 (rounds 7 and 8 of the league stage) and 2025 February 11 and 18, 19 (playoff stage for the right to play in the round of 16).
Although fans sometimes flock to the stands despite the weather, it remains to be seen whether clubs in Central and Northern Europe can have suitable pitches at this time of year.
Due to the increased risk of injury and accumulated fatigue, the longer club season will affect the other major competitions – the world championships and the European and South American championships.
Therefore, it should not be surprising if more and more teams start playing defensive football in the summer of even-numbered years.
More intrigue immediately
Under the previous model of the Champions League, the strongest clubs rarely faced each other in the group stage, and after beating several weaker opponents in the final rounds, they could do without the leaders. Now the super matches will not have to wait until the playoffs.
In the Champions League, the final seven participants will not be known until next week, and the schedule will be drawn on August 29.
But it is already clear that the 36 teams will be divided into four baskets of nine each.
In the league stage, each club will play two matches against clubs from all baskets.
Therefore, it is highly likely that fans will not have to wait until the play-offs to see matches such as Manchester City vs. Real Madrid or Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich.
After all, it is more interesting for fans to see a match with two different teams than to play with the same team twice.
But this system has another side, which some fans will not like. During the draw, there will be a chance to get the strongest teams of the 2nd basket (eg Arsenal of London, Atletico Madrid) as opponents, who deserve to be in the 1st.
Also, if one has the fate of playing Real Madrid away, it will not be as fun as hosting the strongest team in Europe in their stadium.
However, it should be emphasized that there will be four more teams in the Champions League this season than in recent years.
After the selection stages, 7 clubs will join, and among them there will be some rarely seen in tournaments of this rank.
Any competition that requires a lot of words to describe the format is said to be too complicated. The previous model was clearer, but that’s debatable.
Everything that seems new and mysterious at first becomes old and clear, even boring.
Does every point matter?
UEFA emphasizes that from now on every match will count and presents this as a key feature of the new format.
Obviously, with 36 teams competing in one big league, every win or even a draw will have a significant impact on the standings.
Although this seems correct, there can be exceptions.
After all, the longer the tournament, the more room for mistakes.
For example, if you lose twice in a row in a four-club group, the club’s chances of progressing immediately hang in the balance.
And if you lose two games in the new league, you’re still in a great position to qualify for the next round.
Another major change is that 12 teams will be relegated at the end of the league stage – there will be no transfers to the Europa League or Conference League.
This will be a third of all teams, so there is a good chance that the weakest 4-6 clubs will already be mathematically eliminated with one or two games to go.
Imagine them playing another already relegated team in the final round. Or with Manchester City away.
But when you add it all up, the pros outweigh the cons.
The only clear downside is the bloat of the international competition calendar.
But everything else looks interesting and football fans will be very curious to see how it works and if it works at all. (Mightytips.com, LR)
Evolution of the UEFA Champions League format
European Champions Cup
1955-1956 Since its inception, the tournament has followed a playoff format with home and away matches. Depending on the number of participants, it started with a preliminary stage, 1/32 or 1/16 of the final. This competition format did not change until 1991.
1991-1992 – after the 1/32 final and 1/16 final play-offs, a two-group stage of 8 teams was introduced. The first place teams entered the finals.
It was the last season before the Champions League brand was created.
Champions League
1993-1994 The format remained the same, but now the top two teams from each group qualified for the semi-finals (played one match each).
1994-1995 The group stage has been expanded to 16 teams. The top two teams from the four groups advanced to the two-legged quarter-finals.
1997-1998 24 teams appeared in the group stage. The six group winners and the two best-performing second teams made it to the quarter-finals.
1999-2000 Another expansion of the group stage – up to 32 teams. A second round of 16 teams followed, followed by the quarterfinals.
2003-2004 The second group stage was replaced by a playoff round of 16.
2024-2025 The group stage has been replaced by a 36-team league stage, followed by play-offs for the right to play in the round of 16. Next, the regular playoffs from the round of 16.
2024-2025 season’s Champions League participants
1st basket
Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Leipzig, Barcelona.
2nd basket
Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta Bergamo, Juventus Turin, Benfica Lisbon, Arsenal London, Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, Milan.
3rd basket
Feyenoord Rotterdam, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Celtic Glasgow, Young Boys Bern/Galatasaray Istanbul, Dinamo Zagreb/Qarabag, Lille/Slavia Prague, Midtjylland /Bratislava “Slovan”, “Bodo Glimt”/Belgrade “Crvena zvezda”, Kyiv “Dynamo”/”Salzburg” (from the last three pairs, one winner will go to the 4th basket).
4th basket
„Monaco“, Birmingamo „Aston Villa“, „Bologna“, „Girona“, „Stuttgart“, Graco „Sturm“, „Brest“, „Malmo“/Prahos „Sparta“.
2024-08-26 05:24:26