Liverpool

New Champions League format explained as Liverpool could qualify despite 5th place failure

The new “Swiss” model will be introduced for the 2024/25 season – and it is likely to benefit Premier League sides, boost UEFA’s coffers and see a lot more games with little meaning played in autumn.

Manchester City or Inter Milan will enter next season’s Champions League as reigning champions but it is set to be the final campaign of the competition as we know it.

From 2024-25 UEFA’s new “Swiss“ format will be introduced and the planned alterations have already divided opinion.

It will mean more games for players already nearing breaking point but the governing body, who signed off on the proposals at a meeting in Vienna last season, forecasts that it will lead to the competition’s revenue being boosted by 33 per cent.

The usual suspects will be battling it out come spring but UEFA’s grand plan is going to see more games across autumn and a longer path to separate the wheat from the chaff.

What is happening from 2024-25?
There will be 36 participating clubs, up from 32, who will play 189 matches instead of the current 125 in an elongated league phase that will replace the group stage.

Every team will play eight games, four at home and four away against different opponents. The top eight teams in the league will automatically progress to the round of 16 with the sides finishing between ninth and 24th competing in a seeded two-legged play-off. From there the competition will progress as the norm.

Essentially there will be more entree dishes before we get stuck into the meat – with 160 matches required to reach the last 16.

Who gets the extra four spots? Will there be more English teams involved?
Four places for Premier League sides are guaranteed and it is almost certain a fifth will be invited too. That is because two of the four spots will go to the leagues with the highest total co-efficient preceding season – meaning as it stands a place for England and another for Spain

If the changes were being implemented next season that would have meant a spot for Liverpool despite their disappointing campaign.

That has not been a popular decision among other league executives – though an initial plan to base it on the co-efficient across several years was shelved. But

one of the remaining spots will go to the team that finishes third in the league with the fifth highest coefficient. That would go to France, where third must currently enter the qualifying rounds.

And the fourth spot is reserved for an extra team from the “champions path” side of the qualifiers.

Money, unsurprisingly. Players and head coaches will roll their eyes at the prospect of additional fixtures but having more games means additional revenue.

Bradcasters will need to pay more to show extra games. Clubs will bank more in gate receipts. Sponsors will cough up extra for increased opportunities to show their logos to an audience of millions.

The Champions League currently generates €3.6bn (£3.1bn) per season and UEFA competitions director Giorgio Marchetti recently said: “W
e are working on (both) conservative and more optimistic projections in a range I would say between €4.6billion and €4.8bn.”

How the money will be distributed remains to be seen, however, with talks around that element ongoing.

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