The UEFA Champions League is preparing to implement significant changes from the 2024/25 season that will make it different in format and schedule compared to how we know it today.
The main modification is the increase of participating teams from 32 to 36which implies more games for everyone, but not everyone against everyone.
And it is that instead of the traditional format of eight groups of four teams each, the new format will consist of four groups of nine teams.
League phase in the Champions League
This instance comes to be what we currently know as the Group Phase.
Here, the teams from each group will play eight games each; that is, there will be no round trip.
They will play four games at home and four as visitors, compared to the current format, in this new one two games are added.
Only the first eight of each group will directly access the round of 16.
While from 9th to 24th place they must play a previous round of direct elimination to define the other 8 eighth finalists. Here if there will be a round trip.
To accommodate this increased number of encounters, the days of dispute will be Tuesday, Wednesday and now also on Thursdaysincluding meetings in the traditionally holiday month of January in Europe.
The elimination duels -eighths, quarters and semifinals- will be played on the traditional datebetween March and May, but the grand finale would be on May 31, 2025, a week after the current one.
With this new format, its organizers would seek to increase the spectacle, equality and the unexpected of the UEFA Champions League, adding excitement and novelty to the biggest club tournament in the world.
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2023-07-23 15:09:21
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