The UEFAthe institution that governs European football, has revamped the format of its most important tournament for this season and is selling what it describes as a “exciting new future” in the Champions Leaguewith more teams, playing more games and with bigger prizes to win.
The UEFA needs to build anticipation around the new format, because there is a risk, at least initially, that fans will find it confusing compared to the previous model.
Over the past 21 years, the Champions League It consisted of a group stage of 32 teams divided into eight groups of four, each playing six matches. The top two teams in each group qualified for the knockout stages.
The new version of the European tournament will feature 36 teams, and each of them will play 8 matchesbut they will all be together, in a giant league, and not separated into groups.
What is the new Champions League format?
The participants will be divided into four pots in the draw and the nine teams placed in group 1, the main favourites, will face two other clubs from each of the other three pots.
That is to say, There will be four groups of 9 teamsin which they will play at least eight games each.
The first eight that dominate the ranking at the end of this phase will advance to the round of 16; while The next 16 teams will face each other in a play-off/knock-out prior, in which The winner will advance to the round of 16 and the loser will be eliminated..
The new one Champions Leaguewith a season expected to end just before the first FIFA Club World Cup, will have 144 matches in the group stage compared to 96 before.
In compensation, the financial rewards will be greater, with a total prize of UEFA for the Champions League which has increased by about 25% until almost 2.5 billion euros ($2.79 billion).
The champion of the competition could pocket more than 86 million euros only in monetary prizes, not counting the 700,000 euros for each point they win in the league phase or television revenue.
What UEFA says about the new format
The new format was introduced as a measure to the threat of a break with the continent’s biggest clubs and the creation of their own Super League.
But the UEFA He also hopes that the format will be a solution to the problem of competitive imbalance in the sport, which made the group stage too predictable.
“The new format will introduce a better competitive balance between all teams, with the possibility for each of them to face opponents of a similar level throughout the league phase,” UEFA says.
What these changes do not address are concerns about the overloaded schedule, which ultimately affects the quality of matches.
The increasing demands on players and the resulting lack of rest appeared as reasons why several of the league’s matches were Euro 2024 were disappointing from a spectacle point of view.
The draw will be “hybrid”, with one part manual and one part automated, since the complexity of the format would have lengthened the draw to more than three hours if it had been done entirely manually.
What time is the Champions League draw and how to watch it
The draw for the brand new European Champions League will begin at 1:00 p.m. (Argentine time) and will be broadcast via Fox Sports and ESPN.
Composition of the pots for the 2024/2025 Champions League draw:
Drum 1:
- Real Madrid (ESP)
- Manchester City (ENG)
- Bayern Munich (GER)
- Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
- Liverpool (ENG)
- Inter Milan (ITA)
- Borussia Dortmund (GER)
- RB Leipzig (GER)
- Barcelona (ESP)
Drum 2:
- Bayer Leverkusen (GER)
- Atletico Madrid (ESP)
- Atalanta (ITA)
- Juventus (ITA)
- Benfica (POR)
- Arsenal (ENG)
- Bruges (BEL)
- Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
- AC Milan (ITA)
Drum 3:
- Feyenoord (NED)
- Sporting de Portugal (POR)
- PSV Eindhoven (NED)
- Celtic (SCO)
- Young Boys (SUI)
- Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)
- Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)
- Lille (FRA)
- Red Star (SRB)
Drum 4:
- Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
- Monaco (FRA)
- Sparta Prague (CZE)
- Aston Villa (ENG)
- Storm Graz (AUT)
- Bologna (ITA)
- Brest (FRA)
- Girona (ESP)
- VfB Stuttgart (GER)
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
