New UCL Format w.e.f #UCL will look from 2024/25

[King Binny]

UEFA have officially presented the shift to the ‘Swiss format’ of a league system in the Champions League, replacing the group stages that have been present for several decades, and adding four more teams to the competition. For sides that do not make it through the league stage, there will be no qualification into the Europa League or Conference League via position.

36 teams will compete in the league phase from next season, with teams playing eight matches against teams drawn on from each of the four seeded pots. They will not play each side twice, but instead face eight different opponents home or away.

Sides that qualify in the top eight will be seeded into the Round of 16, while teams finishing from 9th to 24th will play each other in a play-off round to fill those eight spots against the top seeds. The remaining 12 sides that finish at the bottom of the table will be eliminated entirely from all competitions.

It means two extra games from the group phase. If a side that does not finish in the top eight of the league phase is to win the competition, then they will need to play 17 games, which is four more than the current total. Those who are seeded to the Round of 16 will play 15 matches, both of which was less than the 19 games that winners would have played in the Superleague.

This change had been agreed years in advance, but shows the increasing grip and influence that the big clubs have on UEFA, bringing in more games between the big clubs, while making it harder for them to be eliminated and harder for lower ranked sides to progress.


View: https://twitter.com/ChampionsLeague/status/1764606719785869424

 

[6TimesaRed]

What I cannot see clear is the dropdown to the Europa League.

Do the losers of the playoff drop down ?, but if that's the case the how does Europa League facilitate this which inherits the same format..

I suspect the 8 losers of the playoffs will join the lower competition after the lower competition have played their own round of 16..


So you will probably see a stagger of playoff to facilitate starting from the conference league. Which might explain why they play only 6 games..

This could work as they essentially play 2 round in the EL and ECL during 1 round of champions league at the moment anyway

 

[Squiggles]

There was not many dead rubber games in the previous format. We all know this comes down to money at the expense of player welfare. It's better than the Super League, but that's no ringing endorsement.

 

[localny]

What I cannot see clear is the dropdown to the Europa League.

Do the losers of the playoff drop down ?, but if that's the case the how does Europa League facilitate this which inherits the same format..

I suspect the 8 losers of the playoffs will join the lower competition after the lower competition have played their own round of 16..


So you will probably see a stagger of playoff to facilitate starting from the conference league. Which might explain why they play only 6 games..

This could work as they essentially play 2 round in the EL and ECL during 1 round of champions league at the moment anyway

I think I read No teams drop down to Europa from CL.

 

[King Binny]

What I cannot see clear is the dropdown to the Europa League.

Do the losers of the playoff drop down ?

I think I read No teams drop down to Europa from CL.

Champions League format: How it will work from 2024-25

Yeah, "Unlike in previous seasons, there is no drop down of teams from the Champions League to the Europa League after the league phase. Once eliminated, your European season is over."

 

[6TimesaRed]

I think I read No teams drop down to Europa from CL.

I beleive they do.

That's for the bottom 8 teams no route to the Europa League

 

[6TimesaRed]

Ok I re-read last link. Which described this.

Indeed you are correct.

Think that's an own goal..

They just devalued the other two competitions even more significantly

 

[6TimesaRed]

Actually I'm reading a few articles now to suggest they do.. losers of the playoff drop down to the Europa League.

None of which however say how this happens..

The only way it could work, it's they join after the lower competition has played their round of 16..

Uefa original article also suggest there is route to europa league, by saying that route is closed for the bottom 12 teams

It would be seriously backward thinking from uefa if they don't include this . So I would be surprised if it wasn't. It will devalue the other competition very much so, for sure..

 

[737Max]

And people thought the Superleague was shit

 

[Markeh]

Meh we’ll not be in it much when Klopp goes anyway

 

[Farkmaster]

So we get more games of football, the earlier games are lower profile, and can't really feature any huge upsets?

More football but shittier in quality. Yeah, this checks out. Modern football.

 

[Holle]

I miss the old European cup system.

 

[Markeh]

Sporting integrity has been off the agenda for so long now

 

[Dreambeliever]

No drop down is good. They are tiered comps for a reason.

 

[Athens]

No home and away matches? That's bullshit.

 

[tombrown]

W.T.A.F. does W.E.F. mean?

 

[Gerry_A_Trick]

Wankers of European Football

 

[binomial]

What eh Fuck?

 

[Modo]

What if you wind up in a "group of death" type situation?
The teams you get drawn against are all good. Half the games end in a draw. You'd normally win the group but you finish 7th because of the league system.
Seems a bit unfair.

 

[6TimesaRed]

Valid point @Modo

The more I think about.. the more this system sucks..

it just implementing an MLS type system into the European football.

 

[Modo]

Valid point @Modo

The more I think about.. the more this system sucks..

it just implementing an MLS type system into the European football.

Similar, but they've got conferences due to geographical distances which makes it even more unfair. Teams in the same conference play each other more often.

 

[Irishanfield]

The group stages are an absolute joke..

 

[Fabio]

It looks stupid but it might actually be quite interesting. I'll refrain from proper judgement until next season

 

[Dreambeliever]

What if you wind up in a "group of death" type situation?
The teams you get drawn against are all good. Half the games end in a draw. You'd normally win the group but you finish 7th because of the league system.
Seems a bit unfair.

Almost zero chance of this with the seeding.

 

[Modo]

Almost zero chance of this with the seeding.

Seeding hasn't stopped it from happening in the CL before

 

[Dreambeliever]

Seeding hasn't stopped it from happening in the CL before

8 top teams creating a group of death. No chance. In any case I don’t think it’s groups. It’s just 8 random matches, 4 away 4 home across all teams and then it’s a league table format. With the top 8 advancing and the next 16 playing home and away no?

 

[King Binny]

View: https://twitter.com/TimesSport/status/1767576895640469938

 

[King Binny]

Champions League set for REVAMPED 'tennis-style' computerised draw - because new format would take FOUR HOURS otherwise - with seeded teams kept apart in knock-outs part of new set of rules

The Champions League draw is set for an overhaul this summer that will adopt a tennis-style seeding for the knockout stages - after UEFA worked out it would take 'three or four hours' to stage the draw manually under the competition's new format.

European football's governing body is introducing new looks for all three of its men's club competitions for next season, with a 36-team league phase replacing the 32-team Champions League group phase that has been in place since the 1999-2000 season.

Every team will face eight different opponents in the league phase as UEFA looks to create a format which reduces the number of dead rubbers, pits big teams against each other earlier in the competition and places extra significance on finishing position in the league when it comes to the knockout draw.

Currently teams are drawn manually from seeded pots, but UEFA's deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti admitted it would not be possible for the draw to remain fully manual, estimating the Champions League draw alone could last 'three or four hours' and feature around 900 balls if it continued as it is now.

UEFA said the precise format for the draw was still in the final development phase but that it would be a 'hybrid' event involving some manual drawing of balls and some automation.

UEFA said any automated elements would continue to be independently audited to avoid any accusations of the draw being rigged.

Teams from the same country will be kept apart until the new knockout round play-off, other than in very exceptional circumstances, with the new round to be contested by the teams finishing ninth to 24th in the league phase.

UEFA is then introducing a tennis-style seeding system from the last 16 onwards, so that the clubs finishing first and second in the league phase are kept in separate halves of the draw and cannot meet until the final.

It will mean that the top four seeds - which are based on where clubs finish in the new league table format - cannot meet each other before the semi-finals, giving clubs the incentive to finish as high as possible.

The Independent reported that UEFA even considered a 'US draft' system for the knockouts, where clubs would get to pick potential opponents depending on where they finished in the table.

They report that general secretary Theodore Theodiridis raised the idea of qualified teams getting choices in order of seeding in an event televised live.

For example, the first-ranked club could feasibly have had 30 seconds to pick an opponent from the other 15 teams.

However, this was dismissed by other members in the discussion in favour of the tennis-style seeding system.

The league phase reserves two European performance spots (EPS) for teams from the countries who were collectively the best performers in the previous season's European campaign.

Italy and Germany currently occupy those spots which would mean the fifth-placed teams in each of those leagues - at the moment Roma and RB Leipzig - gaining the EPS.

England are one place behind Germany, which could mean Manchester United finding themselves in the unusual situation of hoping bitter rivals Manchester City and Liverpool win the Champions League and Europa League respectively to potentially open up a fifth Champions League qualifying spot via the Premier League table.