Vienna, May 10 (BUS): The enlarged Champions League format amendments have been agreed upon by UEFA, clubs and leagues officials with the first phase scaling back and limiting how previous bids can qualify.
The realigned group stage will still grow from 32 to 36 teams starting in 2024, but the number of rounds will only jump from six to eight per team instead of 10, according to the Associated Press.
The UEFA Club Competitions Committee approved the coordination amendments. The plan will now be voted on at the Executive Committee meeting.
People familiar with the conversations said that two additional places in the expanded format will be awarded to the two top-ranked countries in UEFA based on their teams’ results in European competitions the previous season.
If the system is already in place, this means that the fifth-placed team in England will qualify for the Champions League along with the second-place automatically for the Netherlands.
The team that finishes third in the Eredivisie will have a chance to enter the qualifying rounds.
The original plan, which sparked a backlash especially among middle-class clubs, was to give the two places to teams with the strongest record in five seasons in Europe and who had failed to qualify through their domestic championships.
The distribution of the two other expansion slots will see an additional team from the fifth-ranked country in Europe – France regularly – qualify and a fifth slot for the domestic champions who do not automatically qualify.
The first main phase of the UEFA Champions League will see the new format put teams in one place, instead of eight groups. Only eight teams will automatically advance to the Round of 16. But finishing up to 24 of the 36 teams will guarantee entry to the 16-team preliminary round.
There will be 10 weeks dedicated to the European Games from 2024, but two weeks are scheduled for the Europa League and Europa League.
The current 32-team Champions League consists of 96 matches in the group stage. A drop from 10 to 8 matches per team would result in an additional 64 matches instead of the 100 before the Round of 16.
This will have an impact on UEFA’s forecast of a revenue increase of about 40% from the 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion) per year from club competitions.
The Champions League was created in 1992 from the European Cup, which began in 1955 and was one of the elimination tournaments for its entire existence.
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