Governing body announces to increase number of teams from 32 to 36, with group stage replaced by single league
\nNews Agency
\nVIENNA
\nThe European Champions League will see an increase of four teams to 36 and the present group stage replaced by one single league from the 2024\/25 season, UEFA said on Tuesday.
\nThe revamp of European football\u2019s premier club competition will see each team play eight league games \u2013 four home and four away \u2013 as opposed to six in the group stage.
\nThe top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stage, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure their path to the last 16 of the competition.
\n\u201cWe are convinced that the format chosen strikes the right balance and that it will improve the competitive balance and generate solid revenues that can be distributed to clubs, leagues and into grassroots football across our continent,\u201d said UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.
\nCeferin and UEFA will be hoping the reforms \u2013 passed unanimously by their executive board \u2013 will kill off once and for all any thought of the rebel Super League making a reappearance.
\nTwelve of Europe\u2019s biggest clubs signed up to the proposed new competition last April but it collapsed within days following a fierce backlash from their own players and fans, as well as governments and football\u2019s governing bodies.
\nNine clubs distanced themselves from the project but Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus remain on board with the concept.
\nUEFA had stepped back after consulting with various parties \u2013 including supporters \u2013 from having 10 league matches and allocating two of the four new places to teams based on club coefficient.
\nThe four places will go to the club ranked third in the championship of the association in fifth position in the UEFA national association ranking.
\nAnother will be awarded to a domestic champion by extending from four to five the number of clubs qualifying via the so-called \u2018Champions Path\u2019.
\nThe final two places will go to the associations with the best collective performance by their clubs in the previous season (total number of points obtained divided by the number of participating clubs).
\nThose two associations if it had been judged on this season based on the collective performance of their clubs would be England and the Netherlands.
\nSimilar format changes will also be applied to the UEFA Europa League (8 matches in the league stage) and UEFA Europa Conference League (6 matches in the league stage) and both will also include 36 teams in the league phase.
\nCeferin revelled in the moment of succeeding in pushing through the reforms.
\n\u201cI am really pleased that it was a unanimous decision of the UEFA Executive Committee, with the European Club Association, European Leagues and National Associations all agreeing with the proposal made,\u201d said Ceferin.
\n\u201cAnother proof that European football is more united than ever.
\n\u201cQualification will thus remain purely based on sporting performance and the dream to participate will remain for all clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Governing body announces to increase number of teams from 32 to 36, with group stage replaced by single league News Agency VIENNA The European Champions League will see an increase of four teams to 36 and the present group stage replaced by one single league from the 2024\/25 season, UEFA said on Tuesday. The revamp […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260041,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7149,7150,7151],"class_list":{"0":"post-260031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-champions-league","9":"tag-revamp","10":"tag-uefa"},"yoast_head":"\n