Starting from the 2024/25 season, the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League will be held in a new format. [comersant] explains what will change in the draw of the tournaments and what Ukrainian clubs should prepare for.
Soon, Ukrainian clubs will find out their rivals in the final stages of European competitions: Shakhtar in the Champions League, Dynamo in the Europa League, and possibly Kryvbas in the Conference League.
How will the Champions League format change from 2024/25?
A key change in the reforms announced by UEFA is the departure from the current group stage format. From the 2024/25 season, 36 clubs will participate in the Champions League phase (preliminary group stage), which will give everyone the opportunity to compete against the best clubs in Europe. These 36 clubs will participate in one league competition, in which all 36 competing clubs are assessed together.
Under the new format, teams will play eight matches in the new phase of the championship (preliminary group stage). They will no longer play three opponents twice – home and away – but instead will face eight different teams, playing half of these matches at home and half away.
In order to determine the eight different opponents, the teams will first be divided into four seeding groups. Each team will then be drawn against two opponents from each of these groups, playing one match against a team from each group at home and one away.
How will the four extra places in the Champions League group stage be allocated?
Qualification for the Champions League will continue to be open and will depend on a club’s final position in the previous season’s domestic league competition, combined with each association’s position in the association’s club coefficient rankings.
The basis of the access list will remain the same as for the current season, and the additional four slots available in 2024/25 will be distributed as follows:
- Slot 1: this place will go to the club that finishes third in the association championship in fifth position on the access list, as determined by the UEFA association club rankings.
- Slot two: this place will be allocated to the national champion by increasing from four to five clubs that qualify through the champions’ path of the competition’s qualification process, which will consist of four qualifying rounds.
- Slots three and four: these slots will be allocated to the associations with the best collective results of their clubs in the previous season (i.e. the association’s club coefficient from the previous season, based on the total number of club coefficient points received by each club from the association divided by the number of clubs in that association). Each of these two associations will receive one automatic place in the league phase (the “European Performance Point”) for the club that comes next in its national league after those clubs that have already qualified directly for the league phase.
How will teams qualify for the Champions League play-offs and will the play-off format change?
The results of each match will determine the overall ranking in the new league, with three points awarded for a win and one for a draw.
Thetop eight teams in the league will automatically qualify for the last 16, while the teams ranked 9th to 24th will compete in a two-match play-off in the play-off phase to secure their place in the last 16. Teams ranked 25th or lower will be relegated, with no access to the UEFA Europa League.
In the knockout phase, the teams ranked between 9th and 16th will be seeded in the play-off draw of the knockout phase, meaning they will face a team ranked 17th to 24th, with the return leg in principle taking place at home. The eight clubs that win the knockout phase will then advance to the last 16, where they will each face one of the top eight seeded in the last 16.
To enhance the synergy between the league and the playoff phase, as well as to provide more sporting stimulus during the league phase, the playoff phase pairings will also be partially determined by the league phase rankings, and the draw will also determine and pave the route for the teams to reach the finals.
Starting from the last 16, the competition will continue to follow the existing play-off format, after which the final will be held at a neutral venue selected by UEFA.
All games up to the final will continue to be played in the middle of the week, recognising the importance of the national game calendar across Europe, while the final will continue to be played on a Saturday.
Will the formats of the Europa League and the Europa Conference League change from 2024/25?
Yes. Similar format changes will also be applied to the UEFA Europa League (eight matches and therefore eight different opponents per league stage) and the UEFA Europa Conference League, which will be called the UEFA Conference League from the 2024/25 season (six matches and therefore six different opponents per league stage), both competitions also involving 36 teams per league stage.
What will the calendar look like in the new format of three competitions?
The Champions League and Europa League matches will be played from September to January, while the Europa Conference League matches will be played from September to December. Each of the three UEFA club competitions will have one exclusive match week, with the other two competitions not scheduled for that week.
During the standard weeks, Champions League matches will take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, while Europa League and Europa Conference League matches will be played on Thursdays. In the exclusive Champions League week, Champions League matches will be played on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. During the exclusive Europa League week, Europa League matches will be played on Wednesday and Thursday. During the exclusive week of the Europa League, the Europa League matches will take place on Thursday.
In the last round of each stage of the competition league, all games will be played simultaneously.