The New Champions League Format Explained

The UEFA Champions League is about to be reformed. From the start of the 2024-25 season, the competition will have a new broadcasting deal, with a whole range of different commercial agreements. And when it does, it will be under a new format with many more games - the Swiss model, as it's called. But how will it work?

By SoccerSat Team

What will the Champions League look like and why?

But another attraction is the lack of danger and reduced risk that a new qualifying system will bring. The number of participants will rise from 32 to 36, but instead of filling the four new slots with deserving teams from the next best domestic leagues on UEFA's "country coefficient" list, the current plan is to give Ligue 1 an extra qualifying slot, putting it on an equal footing with England, Germany, Italy and Spain. The second place would then be reserved for a team that has performed well in a recent Champions League, but would normally have to go through the qualifying rounds. With the Eredivisie currently offering no guaranteed route to the Champions League group stage, this is a situation that has befallen Ajax in the past. Despite reaching the semi-finals in 2019, for example, they still had to go through two qualifying rounds to reach the actual group stage the following season. Under the new system, they would have been obvious candidates - and likely recipients - off the automatic berth

Extra Places

The two remaining extra places will be more controversial, as they're designed to provide a safety net for underperforming clubs. They would be reserved for the teams with the best club coefficient, a ranking based on European results over the past five seasons, who failed to qualify in the previous season's domestic competition but still finished in the other European places (5th to 7th) - think Manchester United two seasons ago or Tottenham more recently.

Challenges

In theory, this means that the Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga or Ligue 1 could have up to six participants in the Champions League if two seasoned Euro campaigners finished around fifth and seventh, but there is a caveat. All these leagues are limited to a total of seven European places per season. That would normally mean four teams in the Champions League, two in the Europa League and one in the soon-to-be-launched Europa Conference League. However, if a team were to claim one of those lucky loser's spots, the domestic league in question would not be able to send a full quota to the second or third tier competitions, so there will still be third-placed teams from Russia or the Netherlands, or a runner-up in Switzerland or Greece. Wondering why they have not made it to Europe's top competition, while a seventh-placed team in England or Italy might have. Who's to stop the European Club Association from demanding 18 matches in 2027 or 34 in 2030? And the football calendar is already full to bursting.

Can Liverpool qualify for the Champions League in 2024?

Liverpool has guaranteed a spot in the 2024–2025

Who will host 2025 Champions League?

On May 31, 2025, it will take place in Munich, Germany's Allianz Arena. This is going to be the first UEFA Champions League final to be contested in the new Swiss format. The final will be held in Munich at the Allianz Arena.