March 14, 2024
The UEFA Champions League is about to undergo major changes and European soccer's governing body have revealed those tweaks ahead of next season's handover from the old system to the new "Swiss" format which has everybody suddenly worried about their coefficient rankings. UEFA will not be adding non-European teams to the mix, but the field will grow to 36 clubs later this year with a new seeding system taking significant influence from tennis.
We run through the major changes to look forward to.
The top two teams will be kept apart until the final so there is no danger that the two teams who finish ahead of the other 34 participants face each other before the showpiece event. The group stage is replaced with a single table league of 36 clubs which is split into four sections with each club getting eight fixtures with four at home and four away. Teams will be seeded based upon their finishing positions with the top eight going directly into the round of 16, teams in positions nine to 16 will be seeded in the knockout playoffs with 17 to 24 the unseeded sides and the others from 25 to 36 eliminated. Such a system means that the top two cannot face each other until he final.
Teams from outside of Europe, notably Saudi Arabia, will not be invited to participate in the new-look Champions League. In addition to no non-European clubs being involved, there will be no weekend games aside from the final itself which will not be on the move beyond the boundaries of Europe.
Although the first part of the draw will still be done by human hand, the complexity of the new system means that computers must take over given that simulations have required as many as four hours and the use of 900 balls to successful determine outcomes. Each club will be drawn from the hat and then the computer system will select their eight group stage opponents. The 36 will be seeded into four pots of nine clubs based upon the coefficients which has ranked performances over the past five seasons. Two teams per pot will then be picked to create the fixtures. For example, a UEFA simulation showed Manchester City coming up against Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade, Milan, Young Boys and Galatasaray. Clubs from the same countries still cannot meet in the group stage with three points for a win, one point for a draw and goal difference the major ranking variables.
With the field growing from 32 to 36 teams there could be extra spots up for grabs which is partly why the UEFA coefficient system has become so important. England will continue to send four clubs into the competition and could yet benefit from an additional place although Germany and Italy currently lead the way on that. UCL and UEL champions will automatically qualify for the following season's edition regardless of their league finish which could boost representatives from a competition such as the EPL even further.
Once past the playoffs, teams from the same countries can meet and a tennis-esque draw will map out a club's route to the final. Top seeds will be up against playoff winners and first and second place will be at opposite ends of the draw. Relegation and promotion between the UCL, UEL and UECL was initially considered before being dismissed for fear of killing domestic leagues which is the main threat posed by the Super League idea. Eight UCL group stage fixtures instead of six will add strain to already packed schedules and clashes with domestic cups such as the EFL Cup in England are expected.
