Another great season in European football came to an end with the Champions League final tonight (Saturday), and starting next season, the most prestigious institution in Europe is going to change from end to end after UEFA chose to go with a completely new format. In addition, thanks to Real Madrid’s victory, Shakhtar Donetsk secured direct qualification and will not go through the qualifiers, when they may even be in the second tier.
First, the number of groups in the factory will increase from 32 to 36 groups. So far the 32 teams have been divided into eight houses, but from next season all 36 teams will play in one league, with each team playing eight games (four games at home and four away). All the teams will be placed into four ranking groups, which will be determined according to the teams’ achievements in the Champions League and the European League in recent years, with each team facing two teams from each tier.
The group stage, which will be drawn on August 29, will now be completed at the end of January instead of during December, while there will be weeks dedicated exclusively to the Champions League in the football calendar when the domestic leagues are not played. In total, the number of games in the new format will increase from 125 to 189. Games will not only be played on Tuesday and Wednesday but also on Thursday.
At the end of the eight rounds, the last 12 teams in the table will be eliminated. The teams ranked in places 9-16 and places 17-24 will meet for knockout games (home and away), with the meetings between them determined according to the lottery that will be held, and the winner of each meeting will qualify for the round of 16.
The first eight teams will qualify directly for the round of 16. The knockout stage, starting with the round of 16, will remain exactly as in the current format – two meetings (home and away) in each stage, but will be drawn in a completely different way.
All the teams will face each other in a knockout according to their final position in the houses, a kind of crossover, similar to the ranking system in the Grand Slam tournament in tennis. As a result, the 1st and 2nd ranked in the regular season will not be able to meet in a knockout, but only in the final of the Champions League, which will be held next season on May 31 at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Similar changes will be made to the Europa League and Conference League formats, with 36 teams in each. Teams in the Europa League will have eight games against eight different opponents in the group stage, while in the Conference League each team will play six games against six different opponents in the group stage.
ظهرت في الأصل على www.one.co.il