On Wednesday, UEFA announced the new format from season 2024-25 will be taken into consideration, As per the current format 32 teams are allowed to participate in the tournament but the upcoming new format shows 4 more teams will be taking part in the champions league playoff format.
New Tournaments of Champions League Football
- The Tournament will expand from 32 teams to 36.
- The Traditional group stage will be abandoned for a single league phase including all the teams.
- Each team will play eight matches (four home and four away) in this stage instead of the current six
- The top eight teams will qualify automatically for the knockout stage.
- The teams will play a two-legged playoff for the other eight knockout-stage spots.
The new Champions League format from the 2024/25 season.… pic.twitter.com/QT14Wpu6Ew
— JuveFC (@juvefcdotcom) March 3, 2022
Four New Spots
- The first will go to the club ranked third in the fifth-placed association in Europe.
- The Second spot will go to a domestic champion via the so-called “Champions Path”.
- The third spot and fourth spot will be given to the association with the best collective performances by their club in the previous season.
- Each respective association/country will earn one place.
Europa League and Conference League Changes
- The Europa League will also have 36 teams in the league phase with eight matches in the league stage.
- The Conference league will have 36 teams as well but will continue the same format as earlier which will be six matches per team.
If the new format starts from 2024-25 season then Premier League and Dutch Everdise would get an extra team to participate from the next season.
What is Champions Path in New Champions League Format?
Uefa also said the third place would go to the country’s fifth position team for the next qualifying round and the fourth place would be given to each country’s domestic champions in the form of the “Champions Path” which will increase from 4 teams to 5 in each group.
“Champions Path” is the new qualifying format for the new teams which could not go directly into the group stages and have to compete to confirm their place.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said
“the dream to participate will remain for all clubs”.
“Uefa has clearly shown today 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 Ceferin.
“We are convinced that the format chosen strikes the right balance and that it will improve the competitive balance and generate solid revenues that can be distributed to clubs, leagues and into grassroots football across our continent while increasing the appeal and popularity of our club competitions.”
Ceferin said the new format had been approved unanimously by Uefa’s executive committee, with the agreement of Europe’s league bodies and national associations.
He added: “Qualification will thus remain purely based on sporting performance and the dream to participate will remain for all clubs.”
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