‘The Team’ has published full details of the new Champions League that UEFA is preparing for 2024. It will have a total of 36 teams, compared to 32 currently, and a total of 180 matches will be played from September to January, with a championship-type format, without groups and with a high general classification.
As the threat of the European Super League looms on the horizon, UEFA has already set out to make a number of changes to the Champions League to make it more attractive.
And these changes could be implemented from the 2024 Champions League, where the competition would no longer have groups and would have a single ranking, in the style of a championship, as indicated by ‘The Team’.
The governing body of European football is planning a complete overhaul of the all-star competition, changing the format and the number of participating teams.
But let’s take it step by step. Let’s start with the draw: there will be 4 hats of 9 teams and it will determine the matches that will be played, a bit like for the calendar draw.
A total of 36 teams will participate, compared to 32 currently. Each team will play a total of 10 matches, with an all-against-all group format.
During these 10 days, each club will play 5 matches at home and the 5 others away, but there will be no double confrontation; it will all be played out in one game.
In total, there will be 18 matches per day, bringing a total of 180 matches from September to January, and match days will be Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The first eight in the standings would directly qualify for the round of 16. Their eight opponents would be determined by a play-off with two-way matches between the teams ranked between 9th and 24th. In other words, among the 16 qualified teams would appear the 8 best teams of the group stage as well as 8 qualified teams in the play-off.
And what about the teams placed between 25th to 36th place? Quite simply, they will be eliminated. The aim of this ranking is to determine the first 8 teams which qualify directly for the Round of 16 and the 8 others through a jump-off between the 16 remaining teams at the top of the table.