The UEFA Executive Committee has announced that the proposed new format will kick off in the 2024/25 season.
Recall that the present Champions League group stage is made up of 32 participants teams, which are divided into eight groups of four. According to UEFA, beginning from the 2024/25 season, 36 clubs will participate in the Champions League phase (former group stage), allowing four more sides to compete against the best clubs in Europe.
Those 36 clubs will participate in a single league competition, in which all 36 competing clubs are ranked together.
Under the new format, teams will play eight matches in the new league phase (former group stage). They will no longer play three opponents twice – home and away – but will instead face fixtures against eight different teams, playing half of those matches at home and half of them away. To determine the eight different opponents, the teams will initially be ranked in four seeding pots. Each team will then be drawn to play two opponents from each of these pots, playing one match against a team from each pot at home, and one away.
