The queen of European football is preparing to face her most radical change. Last Wednesday’s matches have become a part of Champions League history as they were the last matches played in the current group stage format. The structure of Europe’s top competition will change significantly and The next campaign will be the first since 1992 where the group stage will be eliminated.
FC Barcelona lost their last group stage match last night. Antwerp. Although the Blaugranas had nothing in hand, Barça’s defeat meant that, in addition to losing around 3 million euros, they also lost their final group stage match until further notice.
With Atletico de Madrid’s victory against Lazio, Spanish teams set a new record in the last opportunity of the group stage. For the first time in the history of the Champions League, four Spanish teams qualified for the round of 16 as group winners.
However, this record will not be possible again because the group stage will disappear from next season.
This will be the new Champions League
The first and biggest change of the new format is The number of participating teams increased from 32 to 36. All of these teams will be disbanded 4 blocks of 9 teams eachIt is distributed from 1 to 36 according to the UEFA coefficient calculated according to the performance of each club in Europe in the last five seasons.
The new format is a type of 36-team league. Each team will play 8 matches (4 at home and 4 as guests), so we play against 2 teams from each block.
After this first stage is completed, the 36 teams are ranked according to the points achieved, from first to thirty-sixth. The top eight teams in this league qualify directly for the round of 16.16 teams from the 9th to the 24th place will compete with each other. double leg tie.
From now on, the Champions League will be exactly as we know it now: round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
By playing more games than the current format, The Champions League will start earlier, in late August or early September. In addition to playing matches on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Champions League matches will also be played on Thursdays. Another big change in the new format is this:Eliminated teams will no longer be able to benefit from the option of playing in the Europa League.
Thus, the Champions League is preparing for a radical, unprecedented change that will be much talked about when it comes to life. Europe’s biggest tournament is bidding farewell to the group stage and current format until further notice.