Last night was a historic event in the history of Champions Leagueof UEFA. Because the last eight games of the 16 were played on the last day of the group stage consisting of eight groups of four teams. A format consisting of three round-trip duels in each of them, a competition model implemented since 1992, more than thirty years ago, in a competition that existed since 1955.
Well, this format is history because next season UEFA will launch their new design where in this initial phase there will be an increase of 4 teams (36), which until now are 32 participants in the phase of this group. Four places to be awarded by UEFA following different award criteria in national leagues.
The big news, which means goodbye to this format, will be the premiere of the league where the 36 teams will be divided into four groups of nine teams and where each team will face eight different clubs. Half of each club’s matches will be played at home and the other half away. All results are counted in a standing: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss. Rivals, and which games will be played at home and away, will be determined by draw.
This will be the distribution of groups
And then there is the distribution of these groups, where the first will be the champion of the competition and the top eight clubs in the classification according to the club coefficient. And so on with the rest of the group until 36 clubs are complete. This new format of the league implies another novelty that involves the appearance of an intermediate round at the end of it and before the beginning of the round of 16.
The top eight of these groups will go directly to the round of 16. Those classified 9 to 16 will face clubs classified 17 to 24 in this Champions League qualifying round. The second leg is always in the stadiums of those classified between 9 and 16. From there it will return to the traditional format of round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. Goodbye to the old Champions League and welcome to the new one which will initially be implemented for the next three seasons.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
