UEFA has just confirmed the new format for the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League tournaments next season. The Champions League will be expanded from 32 to 36 teams next season, so the competition format in the group stage has changed. Instead of dividing into 8 groups as before, UEFA will apply a different format called the “Swiss model”.
Each club will play eight matches in the group stage, against seeded opponents, in a system designed to ensure teams play opponents of a similar level. After that, the top 8 teams in the rankings will continue to the round of 16. Teams ranked from 9th to 24th will play a play-off to compete for the remaining 8 tickets. The remaining teams will be completely eliminated from European competitions. The matches will be spread over 10 midweek time frames.
This format will be applied across all three UEFA tournaments. On social networks, a part of fans do not like this change by UEFA. They shared:
- “It’s no different from Super League but the name is different”.
- “They are ruining this tournament”.
- “This is Super League in disguise, right?”.
- “Just leave it as it is, don’t ruin the good things anymore.”
The 36 teams in the Champions League will be divided into 4 seed groups, each group has 9 teams. Teams play 8 matches (4 home, 4 away) and score each match. Meaning every match, goal and point will be crucial to each team’s position. According to UEFA, this system will ensure that “the rankings change rapidly and unpredictably” and that there will be more matches between teams of equal quality. In the knockout round, Champions League matches will take place as usual, with the round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals taking place in 2 rounds before entering the final.
