UEFA Champions League’s new format: What’s the scoop? Here’s the lowdown

UEFA announced on Monday (Mar 3) a transformative update to the Champions League structure, set to take effect in the 2024-25 season. The revision introduces a format that prioritizes competition based on merit and ensures more frequent matchups between the elite clubs.

This new system, inspired by the previously proposed “Super League,” adopts the “Swiss model,” moving away from the conventional group stages. Instead of the existing format where 32 teams are divided into eight groups, the revamped structure will feature 36 teams in a single league phase.

In this league phase, each team will compete in eight matches against eight different teams – a mix of home and away games. This is a shift from the current model of playing the same three teams both home and away. UEFA will arrange these matchups based on a seeding system, ensuring teams play against two teams from each seed in both home and away fixtures.

Under the outgoing system, the top two teams from each group advance to a 16-team knockout stage. The updated format, however, directly qualifies the top eight teams for the round of 16, while those ranked 9th to 24th enter a play-off round to vie for a spot in the last 16. Teams finishing 25th or lower will exit the competition, with no chance to compete in the UEFA Europa League.

UEFA believes this new single league structure will heighten the competition’s intrigue until the very end of the league phase.

Post the league phase, the Champions League will revert to its traditional knockout format from the round of 16 onwards, culminating in a final at a UEFA-selected neutral venue.

UEFA has also confirmed that all matches leading up to the final will occur during the week to respect the domestic league schedules, with the final taking place on a Saturday.

In the wake of controversy surrounding the Super League concept, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin highlighted the unity within the football community following the consensus on the new Champions League format. He expressed satisfaction with the unanimous approval from UEFA’s Executive Committee, the European Club Association, European Leagues, and national associations, viewing it as evidence of European football’s solidarity.