The Executive Committee of the European Football Association “UEFA” approved today, Tuesday, in the Austrian capital, Vienna, the final and new format of the European Champions League, starting from the season (2024-2025).
There will be a number of radical changes to the tournament system, as the group stage will be canceled with its regular system and replaced with one group that includes all the teams participating in the tournament, which will increase from 32 to 36 starting from the season (2024-2025) under the new amendments, and thus the number of matches that will increase Each club in the first round will play it in the group system to 8 matches against different clubs, 4 at home and 4 outside, instead of 6 against three opponents, 3 home and 3 home matches, according to the current system.
The group will be arranged after all matches are over, and seats will be determined based on the following:
The teams ranked (1-8) qualify directly for the round of 16 and play the return match at their home stadium.
The teams occupying the positions (9-24) will play a home and away play-off matches between them, after a draw is made, to determine the eight participating teams in the remaining seats in the round of 16.
The teams in the positions (from 24 to 32) leave the tournament completely and do not qualify for the European League after that, unlike what happens with the departures of the Champions League currently, as some of them go to the European League, which was also modified for the departures from the European League who will not be They can participate in the European Conference Tournament.
The Champions League matches continue in the middle of the week to align with the local calendar for each league, except for the final, which is scheduled for a separate time.
“We have clearly shown that we are fully committed to respecting the values of sport and merit, and we made those decisions after listening to the ideas of fans, players, coaches, local associations, clubs and tournament officials, with the aim of finding the best solutions for the development of European football,” UEFA President Aleksandar Ceferin said of the development.
He added, “The new format achieves the required balance for the tournament, makes the tournament enjoy strong revenues and gives football, which is very popular in our continent, a great attraction.”