Europe’s flagship club football competition, champions league, will undergo some structural changes, the Union of European Footballing Associations (UEFA) has said.
UEFA on Monday announced that a new format will be introduced for the Champions League and lower tiers of Europe’s club competition.
The new format, which will see the current 32-team group stage format discontinued, will take effect from the 2024-2025 season and onwards.
The announcement video from UEFA (via Fabrizio Romano) details the changes that they will be implementing in the competition format.
The new format will have a singular 36-team league phase in the Champions League and also the Europa and Europa Conference League.
Each team will be drawn against eight different opponents, two from each of the four seeding pots, playing four games at home and four away.
The teams that finish first through eighth will qualify directly for the Round of 16.
The teams finishing ninth through 24th must face each other in a knockout playoff round to join the top eight teams in the pre-quarterfinals.
However, teams that finish 25th to 36th are eliminated directly from all competitions, as opposed to the last system of third placed group finishers dropping down to the lower European league’s preliminary playoff round
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