The Executive Committee of UEFA (the European Football Association) approved today, Tuesday, in the Austrian capital Vienna, the final and new format of the UEFA Champions League starting from the 2024-2025 season. Several fundamental changes will be made to the tournament's system, as the traditional group stage will be abolished and replaced with a single group that includes all participating teams. The number of teams will increase from 32 to 36 starting from the 2024-2025 season under the new amendments. Consequently, each club will play 8 matches in the first round of the group stage against different clubs, with 4 at home and 4 away, instead of 6 matches against three opponents, consisting of 3 home and 3 away matches, as is the current system.
The group will be ranked after all matches are completed, and the places will be determined as follows:
- Teams ranked 1-8 will qualify directly for the Round of 16 and will play the second leg at home.
- Teams ranked 9-24 will play home and away knockout matches against each other after a draw to determine the eight teams that will occupy the remaining spots in the Round of 16.
- Teams ranked 24-32 will exit the tournament completely and will not qualify for the Europa League afterward, unlike the current situation where some exiting teams from the Champions League advance to the Europa League. This has also been amended for teams exiting the Europa League, as they will not be able to participate in the UEFA Conference League.
The UEFA Champions League matches will continue to take place midweek to align with the local calendar of each league, except for the final, which will have a separate schedule.
UEFA President, Slovenian Aleksander Čeferin, commented on this development: "We have clearly demonstrated our full commitment to respecting the values of sport and merit, and we made these decisions after listening to the ideas of fans, players, coaches, national associations, clubs, and competition officials to find the best solutions for the development of European football." He added, "The new format achieves the necessary balance for the tournament, provides strong revenues, and gives the highly popular football in our continent great appeal."
