The Champions League will therefore experience a small revolution from 2024-2025, starting with a 36-team mini-championship, a controversial reform adopted on Tuesday and supposed to seduce broadcasters.
A mini-championship as an entry
At the end of its Executive Committee in Vienna, the European body seems to have opted for a compromise to erase the reluctance: the “Swiss system”, a mini-championship inspired by chess tournaments, will indeed apply during the first phase instead of the current group stage, but with eight days, against six today, and 36 teams, against 32 currently. The first eight teams at the end of the first phase of the mini-championship will qualify for the round of 16, while the teams which will be classified from 9th to 24th place will go through play-offs in the home and away format.
France favored if it keeps its index
An overhaul, also with two additional places allocated to the two best European nations over the previous season, a sort of catch-up net for the top names, and a third club qualified for the fifth nation in the UEFA index, currently France. This reform, the most radical for twenty years, was validated a year after the storm of the Super League, an ephemeral private competition project launched by several major rebellious clubs, including Real Madrid and Liverpool, who will face each other on May 28. in the Champions League final.
More matches for broadcasters
“We are convinced that the formula chosen is harmonious, that it will improve the balance of competitions and ensure solid revenues which can be redistributed (…), while increasing the attractiveness and popularity of our interclub competitions”, welcomed the boss of UEFA Aleksander Ceferin, quoted in a press release. By extending the first phase, the objective is to satisfy both the broadcasters, with 225 matches in total instead of 125 today, the clubs, assured of higher ticketing income, and the viewers in search of posters prestigious.
UEFA has also announced that apart from the final, all matches will continue to be played in the middle of the week, a confirmation expected by the national leagues which usually play at weekends. Finally, Aleksander Ceferin’s proposal to bring together the semi-finals and final in the same city and in a dry match, in the form of a “Final 4”, has seemingly been scrapped, preserving the current home-and-away semi-final format that has been so spectacular this season. The Europa League and the Europa League Conference are also affected by this reform, with a format modeled on that of the new Champions League.
While some voices have been raised to criticize the reform, the sharp increase in revenue expected from 2024 may be enough to convince the undecided. At the beginning of 2022, the TV rights for European club competitions were awarded for five billion euros annually over the 2024-2027 period, a jump of more than 50% compared to TV rights for 2018-2019. “No discussion has yet taken place”, about the financial distribution of this new windfall, which will take place in a second step, nevertheless specified Giorgio Marchetti, deputy general secretary of UEFA.