How The Champions League Will Change Thanks To The New Format

What Changes Will The New Champions League Format Bring From 2024/25?
1. How Do Champions League Pots Work?
How Will UEFA Allocate The Four Extra Champions League Spots?
How Will Teams Reach The Knockout Stage?
How Will The New Champions League Format Change The Game For Fans and Players?
Will The Europa and Conference League Format Change From 2024/25 Too?
When Will The Champions League Draw EST Be?

The Champions League, Europe’s most beloved footballing tournament, is making a major change to its format. UEFA is abandoning the old group stage format for a longer and potentially more exciting tournament. But these pivotal changes have left fans wondering what will become of the tournament that has electrified Europe for the past six decades. Will the Champions League lose some quality or become even more entertaining?

Kate Richardson, our guest expert sports analyst, will answer these questions while explaining how the new UEFA Champions League qualifiers format works and how it can impact the beautiful game.

What Changes Will The New Champions League Format Bring From 2024/25?

The UEFA Executive Committee announced the upgrade from its current group stage format. In the old system, 32 teams were split into eight groups of four (Groups A to H). The new Champions League format will now include four more teams (36) competing in a single competition, meaning there will be no more group stages.

In the new UEFA Champions League qualifying stage, teams will play more games, with each club playing eight matches (two more than in the previous format). Previously, each team played three opponents twice (home and away), but now, they will play eight opponents, with half of their matches hosted at home and the other half played away. A team’s eight opponents will be determined using seeding pots.

“UEFA has clearly shown that we are fully committed to respecting the fundamental values of sport and to defending the key principle of open competitions, with qualification based on sporting merit, fully in line with the values and solidarity-based European sports model,” said UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin.

How Do Champions League Pots Work?

In this novel Champions League format, UEFA will initially rank all the teams in four seeding pots. There will be a draw pitting each club to face two opponents from each pot, with teams playing one game at home and one away. In other news, UEFA will computerize the Champions League draw from this coming season.

Already, news of the coming changes is shaking up the sports betting space as bettors prepare to adapt. Sports bettors must now plan for the extended Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League formats and consider how more games, substitutions, and potential injuries can affect the quality of their predictions.

Considering this, players may find it beneficial to follow sites like MightyTips that provide the latest sports and betting news, along with reliable information on where to find the top Euro sports betting bookmakers with the best odds and markets. Betting information sites like these can also be a rich source of sports predictions and gambling strategies.

How Will UEFA Allocate The Four Extra Champions League Spots?

Amidst the changes to the tournament, the UEFA Champions League qualifying system will remain the same and depend on a club’s final position in their domestic league during the previous campaign.

UEFA will still rely on coefficient rankings to determine how many slots each league will get. However, UEFA will allocate the four new slots as follows:

Slot one: The first slot goes to the club ranked third in the championship of the association in fifth position in the access list. This is determined by the UEFA association club coefficient ranking.
Slot two: The next position is handed to a domestic champion “by extending from four to five the number of clubs qualifying via the Champions path of the competition’s qualifying process,” according to UEFA.
Slots three and four: The final two slots will be given to the associations with the best collective performance by their clubs in the previous season. These two associations will each earn one automatic place in the league phase for the club ranked next-best in their domestic league. These spots will be behind those clubs that directly qualify for the league phase.

How Will Teams Reach The Knockout Stage?

The top eight teams in the new league format will automatically enter the round of 16. Meanwhile, the teams that finish between 9th and 24th must challenge themselves in a knockout play-off consisting of two legs. Teams finishing lower than 24th place will be automatically eliminated and will not qualify for the UEFA Europa League.

To make the league and knockout phases more competitive, UEFA will consider the league phase ranking in the draw to determine their route to the final. After the league stage, the competition will continue as normal from the round of 16 and beyond, with the final stage set at a neutral venue determined by UEFA.

How Will The New Champions League Format Change The Game For Fans and Players?

More Game Time For Bench Players: Two extra games in the group stage with the inclusion of four new teams means more opportunities for substitute players to enter the spotlight. It also means that teams must be more strategic about rotating their players throughout the season.
More Exciting Fixtures: With the new format pairing clubs with two opponents from each pot, fans can see their favourite teams go head-to-head more often and earlier in the game. This change will also lead to more competitive games for each club in the league.
Better Competitive Balance: Because all teams will emerge from the same league, it can lead to a better competitive balance across the table.
Higher Risk of Injury and Fatigue: On the downside of this extended format, clubs with fewer key players will have a higher chance of experiencing fatigue or injuries. According to data analyst Ben Dinnery, founder of Premier Injuries. “there have been 196 injuries in just over three months at the start of the 2023-24 top-flight season,” – a 15% increase compared with the past four seasons.

Will The Europa and Conference League Format Change From 2024/25 Too?

Indeed, the Europa League and the Conference League will apply the same format as the UEFA Champions League qualifiers in the 2024/25 season. But there will be eight matches and eight different opponents in the league phase for the Europa League, while there will only be six matches and six opponents for the Conference League. However, both tournaments will feature the same number of teams in the league phase, which is 36.