UEFA Releases New Champions League Format Next Season, Team Number Increases To 36

UEFA is implementing a new format for next season's Champions League (doc. UEFA).

JAKARTA - UEFA has announced a new format for next season's Champions League. The group chart system will be replaced with a league system.

The news was conveyed by UEFA on their official website on Monday, March 4, 2024, local time. The new format with various changes will take effect in the 2024/2025 Champions League.

The number of participants in the Champions League will also increase from 32 to 36 teams. The group phase, which usually consists of eight groups, also no longer applies and is replaced by one league standings.

Later, UEFA will divide all participants into four leading pots. Each participant faces eight different opponents at home or away, no longer meeting the same team with the home-away system as the previous format.

The points are still the same, menan (3 points) and series (1 point). Productivity and goal difference also affect the changes that occur on the standings board.

The top eight teams of the standings will automatically qualify for the round of 16. The 9-24 ranking team will compete for the remaining eight to the knockout stages through the play-offs. Meanwhile, the 25th ranked team and so on will be confirmed to have died.

Meanwhile, the round of 16 will continue to apply in the old format without any changes. Then, the match schedule will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The final round takes place on Saturday.

UEFA applies this new format not only to the Champions League. This rule is also run for the Europa League and UEFA Conference League competitions.

"UEFA clearly shows that we are fully committed to respecting the fundamental values of the sport and maintaining the main principles of open competition, with qualifications based on sporting achievements, in full line with the values and models of European sports based on solidarity," said UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, quoted Tuesday, March 5, 2024.

"I am very pleased that this is the unanimous decision of the UEFA Executive Committee, the European Club Association, the European League, and national associations all approved the proposals made. Another proof that European football is more united than ever," he said.