2024-02-08T20:11:23+00:00
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/ The European Football Association (UEFA) approved, on Thursday, changing the current system for the group stage in the Champions League, which has continued for two decades.
The most important and strongest club tournament in Europe is set to switch to a league system, starting next season.
The tournament was previously known as the European Champions Cup, and was played on a two-legged knockout basis.
The group stage first appeared in the 1991/1992 season, where the eight clubs qualifying from the round of 16 in the tournament were divided into two groups, with 4 teams in each group, before the name of the tournament was later changed to the European Champions League.
The competition underwent several other changes until the current system was adopted in the 2003/2004 season, which ends this season, by distributing the 32 clubs participating in the tournament into 8 groups, with 4 clubs in each group, with the first and second place teams in each group qualifying for the knockout stages.
After the UEFA General Assembly (Congress), it was decided to increase the number of participants in the Champions League to include 36 teams starting next season, when it will be changed to a league system.
Each team is scheduled to play 8 matches, two more than the number of matches that were played according to the old system, with 4 matches at home and 4 away.
The teams will be classified into 4 levels based on UEFA criteria, and each team will play other teams from all four levels.
The top eight teams advance directly to the round of 16, while the clubs ranked from ninth to 24th play a new qualifying round to determine the remaining eight clubs that qualify for this round.
UEFA also agreed to change the format of the Europa League and Europa Conference League, starting from the 2024/25 season, with both competitions to feature 36 teams.