Football is immersed in a profound transformation, which affects ownership, play and formats. The Super League project may never see the light of day, but it has caused a movement of tectonic plates. The UEFA He has listened to the clubs and his response is Champions 2024/2025a format “which is going to be more competitive, unpredictable and will have more top-level duels”. It is the main idea they defended Giorgio Marchetti, Deputy General Secretary and Director of Football of UEFA, Tobias Hedstück, Head of Competitions and Agenda at UEFA; and Santi Solsonaproject manager of Competitions in the organization, at the presentation of the project in Madrid.
Among the changes to the 2024/2025 Champions League is the increase from 32 to 36 participating clubs, which are divided into eight groups of four. “In this way more opportunities are given to the teams”Marchetti explained. The group stage as we knew it disappears and there will be a single classification, both in the Champions League and in the Europa League and the Conference League.
All group stage matches are important
With the new format, teams will play eight games in the new league phase. “There will continue to be hype, because there has to be, but really each team competes under the same conditions“Hedstück defended. To understand this, you have to break down the format. Each team will play eight different teams in the league stage (former group stage), half at home and half away. How is this decided? By draw .
To determine the opponents, the teams are divided into four pots, but each team will face two rivals from each of these pots. That is, in a first phase there may be a Manchester City – Real Madrid, to give an example of a great confrontation (as the Super League draft sought). “This will cause excitement until the end,” Solsona assures in a justification that explains the other uniqueness of the format.
In this league of 36, the first eight teams automatically advance to the round of 16, while those between 9th and 24th place will play a two-leg playoff tie. From there the remaining teams in the round of 16 will come out. Clubs that finish 25th or lower will be eliminated, without access to the UEFA Europa League, as has happened until now. This was one of the demands that the clubs had the most influence on, as did coaches like José Mourinho, who criticized the rebound of teams from the Champions League to the second competition.
How are teams and calendars drawn?
“Each tournament will have its independence. There will be excitement until the last night of the league phase,” highlighted those responsible for the organization who told the Spanish press about the project. “To reinforce the synergy between the league phase and the knockout phase, and to offer a greater sporting incentive during the league phase, the knockout phase pairings They will also be determined in part by the classification of the league phasewith a draw that will also determine and trace the teams’ path to the final,” commented Santi Solsona, UEFA Competitions project manager.
Unlike what has happened until now, there will be no national blockade in the knockout phases. That is, teams from the same country can face each other, something that remains in the group stage whenever possible. The league phase is much more important than the group phase in the previous model. The best example: the first and second classified in the regular section would not see each other until the finalbecause each one would go to one side of the eliminatory table.
The raffle balls will not completely disappear, but their role will be figurative, because the person in charge of the raffle draw, as well as the calendar, will be a ‘software’. There will be one for the pairings and another for the calendar, where television will continue to rule. In the event of a tie, the first criterion to settle will be the goal difference, then the goals conceded and in the eight criteria that are proposed is how many points the rivals with whom each club has played have scored.
More games for players in a saturated calendar
In the knockout phase of the playoffs, those classified between 9th and 16th place will be seeded in the draw, which means that They will face a team located between 17th and 24th place with, in principle, the return trip at home. The eight clubs that win these qualifying rounds will advance to the final phase.
From the round of 16 onwards, the competition follows the current knockout round format leading up to a final at a neutral venue selected by UEFA. All matches prior to the final will continue to be played midweek, “recognising the importance of the national match calendar across Europe, whilst the final will continue to be played on a Saturday”explains the organization.
Following the trend of the Euro Cup, the World Cup or the Club World Cup, the new Champions League format increases the number of matches. “We have spoken with the players’ unions and we have reached an agreement. The purpose of this reform is to have a greater variety of rivals and of similar level,” said Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA Deputy General Secretary and Director of Football.
What changes in the Europe and Conference League?
Another peculiarity of the new competitions is that each one will have an exclusive week in which they will not coincide with other tournaments, to benefit their media presence, especially with regard to the Europa League and the Conference League (new name of the UEFA Conference League). Only in these weeks there will be an extension of days, but for the rest the registration of Tuesday and Wednesday for Champions is maintained; and Thursday for Europa League and Conference.
On the last day of each of the league phases of the competitions, the matches will be played simultaneously. Similar format changes will also apply to the UEFA Europa League (eight matches and therefore eight different opponents in the league stage) and the UEFA Europa Conference League (six matches and therefore six different opponents in the league stage). league phase). Both competitions will also have 36 teams in the league phase.
An issue that the members of UEFA resolved is a discussed topic, especially with triumphs like Atalanta’s, which if it finishes fifth in Serie A, after winning the Europa League, will allow up to six Italian teams to play in the Champions League. These are places by assignment, which may correspond to national places based on performance or to the best from federations that have been left out, like Eintracht Frankfurt or Shakhtar Donetskwho will be pending the development of the Wembley final between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid.
“UEFA has clearly demonstrated that we are fully committed to respecting the fundamental values of sport and with the defense of the key principle of open competitionswith a classification based on sporting merit, totally in line with the values and the European sporting model based on solidarity,” said Aleksander Ceferin, president of UEFA, at the global presentation of the format that took place months ago. A message clear and direct towards the Super League, which in addition to the format has forced the organization to increase the remuneration of the new Champions League.
2024-05-23 19:04:27
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