The Champions League will have a revolutionary new format from the 2024-25 season

After 19 seasons in which the Champions League was played with the traditional format of eight groups of four teams each and knockout rounds starting with the round of 16, this Tuesday a sudden change was confirmed that completely broke away from the dynamics. of recent years and which will provide discuss.

The UEFA Executive Committee approved a new dispute system of the Champions League. This was officially confirmed by a statement on social networks and This will apply from the 2024-25 season.

The main change is that the number of participating clubs will increase from 32 to 36. These four additional seats will be distributed as follows:

• The first will go to the club that will finish third in the league with the association ranked fifth in the UEFA national association rankings.
• Then, the second extra quota will come from expanding from four to five the number of clubs that qualify through the “Champions Path”, which rewards league champions in lower -level associations.
• The last two spots are for those with the best average last season by dividing the total number of points earned by the number of participating clubs. The best classified in each of those countries are the classified ones.

Then, another important change is that the traditional group stage will be removed and replaced by a Liguilla where each of the 36 participating teams will have a guaranteed at least eight games against eight different rivals, not ten as first considered, and will play four at home and four as guests.

By the end of this first round, the eight best will have direct access to round 16, while those located from 9th to 24th place will decide, via the playoff round-trip, the other eight tickets.

Both held the round of 16 and the quarter-finals as two-legged ties, but then a Final Four will be played in one place. The latest precedent for this was in the 2019-20 season, when, in the midst of the pandemic, Lisbon hosted what was then called the Final 8.

“We are convinced the chosen format will improve the balance of competition and generate solid revenue that can be distributed between clubs, leagues and grassroots football on our continent while increasing the appeal and popularity of our competitions, ”he said. Alexander Ceferinpresident of UEFA since 2016.

The economy, no doubt, has become decisive. Approximately a distribution of 4,000 million euros per season, which means an increase of 40% with respect to the current campaign.

The format changes will also apply to the other two international club competitions organized by UEFA. Both the Europa League and Conference League will see the same increase from 32 to 36 teams. The first will have eight insured against the league stage, such as the Champions League, while the second will have six games to play this time around.