The 2024-25 UEFA Champions League, or UCL, begins next month and will run all the way until one team is crowd Champions in June. We have some excitement this season as the tournament is implementing a brand new format starting this season. What was once a 32 team tournament, will now be a 36 team contest, and instead of groups, teams will compete similarly to a league format.
Let’s dive in to all the new changes and what this means for the UCL!
UCL 2024-25 Tournament Format
Vini and Real Madrid are looking to repeat as UCL Champions
New changes await this year’s tournament so let’s get into it!
Formerly, the UCL was made up of 32 teams. These teams were then drawn into 8 groups of 4, where they played standard pool play matches, playing each team both home and away. At the end, the top 2 teams of each group would advance to the Round of 16 where bracket play began. However, this year is different.
League Phase
The UCL this season will feature 36 total teams, giving 4 other European clubs a shot at playing the best of the best. Now, these teams will not be grouped, and will instead compete in the Champions League “league phase”, in which all competing clubs are ranked together. Teams will play 8 total games in this league phase, 4 at home and 4 on the road, but facing 8 different opponents. To determine the opponents, teams will be initially ranked in four separate seeding pots, and will play two teams from each pot, one home and one away.
Table Seeing
Following the conclusion of these 8 games, we will have all 36 teams on the table seeded by points. Teams gain 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw. After the league phase, the Top 8 teams will automatically qualify for the Round of 16. Teams ranked 25th through 36th will be eliminated immediately. Those ranking 9th through 24th will then be redrawn to play a two-legged playoff to determine the final 8 spots in the Round of 16.
Two Leg Extra Playoff
Teams ranked 9th – 16th will be put in a pot and drawn to face opponent’s ranked 17th-24th. These will be two leg playoffs with a match both away and at home. Once we have 8 more finalists from this extra playoff, we move on to the Round of 16. The Top 8 are put in one pot, and drawn to face any of the 8 teams that qualified through their two leg playoff match.
From then on, things are just like normal in the UCL. The Round of 16 and following knockout rounds are all two leg competitions, aside from the UCL Final.
Can Haaland and Man City make their way back to the UCL Final?
Quick Recap
Whew! That was a lot of information to take in. Let me see if I can simplify it here.
New Changes to the UCL Tournament
- 36 Total Teams
- Grouped in 4 Seeding Pots
- Play 8 Total Games
- 1 Home & 1 Away from Each Pot
- 36 Team Table by Points after 8 Games
- Top 8 Advance to Round of 16
- Bottom 12 Eliminated
- 9th-24th Extra Two Leg Playoff
- 9th-16th grouped
- 17th-24th grouped
- Face team from other group in 2 leg playoff
- Winners advance to Round of 16
- Top 8 Play 8 who advanced via extra playoff
- Round of 16 continues in normal UCL fashion
Saka and Arsenal are back in the UCL this season
Why Change the UCL Format?
Well for starters, it invites more teams into the tournament. This competition is about finding the best club in all of Europe, and extending the invitations allows that to happen. It also opens up smaller clubs to bigger markets and more exposure, thus resulting in more resources for those teams and their leagues as a whole.
The extended UCL will also give clubs the opportunity to test themselves against a wider range of opponents. While Man City and Real Madrid may benefit by blowing out small teams, those small markets clubs could pull off some huge upsets and really tests their skills against the world’s best, whom they might otherwise not face. There is also the chance for fans to see top teams going head to head more often and earlier in the UCL competition. Ultimately, we all hope for more competitive matches across the board.
With the new league phase format that ranks all the teams together in a single league, matches will mean much more throughout the competition. Teams will no longer win their group after the 4th match and throw in the towel for their last group stage contests. Instead, all 8 matches will be of an upmost importance for each team, resulting in fantastic soccer all around.
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