UEFA have approved a newly revamped format for club competitions from 2024-25 season onwards.
This announcement will see all three UEFA club competitions undergo an increase from six to eight matches in the league phase, complete with change of qualification criteria due to an expansion from 32 to 36 clubs, in which assess based on club coefficient will be removed.
UEFA proceeded to confirm how the four additional Champions League placings will be divided up;
- One place will be allocated to the club ranked third in the championship of the football association ranked fifth in UEFA’s national association ranking.
- One place awarded to a domestic champion following extension in number of clubs who can qualify via “Champions Path” from four to five teams.
- Two places will be awarded to the associations with best collective performances by their clubs in the previous season across all UEFA competitions, with the qualification spot going to the best-placed teams outside of the Champions League qualification placings.
The traditional Group Stage format will consequently be dropped and replaced with a league phase where each team will be guaranteed a minimum of eight league matches against eight different opponents, instead of three opponents on a home/away basis under current format.
The top eight clubs at the end of the league phase will automatically qualify for the knockout stages, whilst teams ranked 9-24th will compete in a two-legged play-off for the eight remaining spots in the Round of 16.
These changes will be replicated in Europa League and Europa Conference League albeit with tweaks to fit both competitions, with the latter competition featuring just six matches despite having 36 teams in the league phase.
Speaking about these changes, UEFA President, Aleksander Ceferin insists that the new format highlights that UEFA “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 alone.
Amidst the reality that the increase in fixtures for many clubs, Ceferin iterated that this ‘swiss system’ style format “strikes the right balance” and “will improve the competitive balance” whilst generating revenues to distribute to clubs, leagues and most importantly grassroots football across Europe.
Ceferin concluded by defending the “unanimous decision of the UEFA Executive Committee” and insisted that the European Club Association, European Leagues and National Associations all agreed with the planned changes.
All fixtures except the Grand Finals across all three UEFA club competitions will be held in midweek but with Champions League and Europa League teams playing eight league matches and Europa Conference League teams playing six league matches within 10 UEFA matchweeks in the League stage.
All three UEFA competitions will therefore enjoy one week of calendar exclusivity for their competition to take centre stage.