Talks regarding a European Super League have been a cause for concern for UEFA, with the potential of hurting the Champions League. However, the European body is set to counter the proposal by restructuring the competition.
A report by Matt Slater of The Athletic states that UEFA is set to approve the proposal to restructure the Champions League on March 31, 2021. The new format will see Europe’s premier competition follow a ‘Swiss model’ – largely used in chess tournaments. Meanwhile, as part of the restructuring, the slots in the final tournament will be increased from 32 to 36.
The current Champions League format came into play starting from the 2003/04 season. Before that, the tournament saw teams take part in two group stages, followed by the quarter-finals. It was dropped in place of a conventional format that saw the second group stage replaced by the round-of-16.
The next set of changes will come into play starting from the 2024/25 season, more than two decades after the last revision. The group stage will be replaced by a 36-team joint group in the forthcoming editions, where each team will play ten matches – five home and five away. Each team will be seeded in the competition from one to 36 and will play their fixtures based on the same. As such, any given team won’t have to face all the others in the initial stage.
Furthermore, the top eight – based on points tally – will qualify directly for the knockout stages. The teams finishing between 9 and 24 will play each other in a play-off round, with the winners advancing to the knockout stages. Twelve teams will be eliminated after the first round.
The new format will also add four more slots to the final tournament, taking the number of participants from 32 to 36. One of those four slots is expected to be handed to France, bringing them level with the other top European leagues. England, Germany, Italy, and Spain each are guaranteed four spots in the competition already.
Which teams or leagues get the remaining three spots is a bone of contention at present. UEFA has proposed to reward those spots based on historical performances in their competitions over the last five years. As such, a team finishing outside the European places in a domestic league can still qualify for the Champions League, provided they meet the requirements.
