The current UEFA Champions League group stage soccer season is coming to an end this week.
The premier club championship in Europe will have a new structure as of the upcoming season. Additionally, there will be 36 teams rather than 32.
The format of the new UEFA Champions League
In contrast to splitting the 32 teams into 8 groups of 4 there will be only one enormous 36-team league in the 2024–2025 group stage.
This does not suggest that every squad will participate in 35 games. Not exactly.
However, there will be eight matches per team during the group stage instead of the 6 that fans are used to, meaning that there will be a lot more fixtures.
To choose who plays what, there will continue to be a group stage draw. Four distinct pots will be used for seeding that draw.
Every squad will be assigned to play one home game and one away game against two different teams from each pot.
This implies that the teams from Pot 1 will play one another in the group stage for the first time ever in the entire history of the Champions League. Thus, anticipate some heavyweight bouts sooner than custom.
The top a total of 24 will all go to the knockout stage, so there should be less risk for the heavy hitters.
However, league position is still taken into consideration. Teams that place in the top eight advance straight to the round of sixteen and receive additional prize money. Teams that place ninth through twenty-four advance to the play-off round.
The play-off round won’t have a draw. The ninth-place squad will face the twenty-fourth-place team; that is, 10th vs. 23rd, 11th vs. 22nd, and on and so forth.
This implies that a play-off round matchup between two clubs from the same nation is possible
.With one major exception, UEFA will forbid teams from the same nation from playing against one another during the group round. It is possible that two teams from the same nation could play each other in the mega-league stage if the country in question has a total of five teams in the group stage.
There won’t be any more Champions League dropout teams joining the Europa League midway through a season; the bottom eight teams in the group stage will be all ousted from Europe entirely.
