The Controversial New Champions League Format Coming in 2024

The UEFA Champions League, the most prestigious football tournament to ever grace the pitch, has been entertaining millions of football fans for decades. With teams all over Europe competing against each other for that magnificent trophy and bragging rights over each other, there is always guaranteed entertainment.

For a while now, UEFA and the football higher-ups have kept the same format for the Champions League and it has worked. With qualification coming from previous league rankings and various other ways of qualifying, like winning the previous tournament, for example, it meant only the best 32 teams from the previous season could compete, setting up a great tournament. Then splitting those 32 teams into eight groups of four by using a draw system, taking the top two from those groups and having them battle it out in a 16-team knockout phase. It all ran like clockwork, pure entertainment every Champions League night, why change it right? Why fix what is not broken right? Unfortunately for football fans around the globe, UEFA has decided that in 2024, the format will change. The competition we all grew to love will never be the same again. 

The new format for the UEFA Champions League now includes 36 teams instead of the usual 32. Those 36 teams are now put into one big league rather than going through a group stage. Each team will play eight games, four home and four away against a random selection of other teams in the tournament. It will then be the top eight teams of that league will qualify for the next round and the teams that placed between the 9th spot and 24th spot will battle it out in a two-legged play-off match to book their place in the next round. Once all play offs have been completed, it will go into its usual knockout stage right up until the final. This means that the already crammed calendar for the most elite football clubs will include even more matches that the players of those teams risk receiving more injury issues and potential fitness problems.  

So when UEFA announced these changes, it’s safe to say football fans had their say and a majority of them were not impressed. Following the European Super League scandal in April of 2021, football fans were on high alert when it came to changes to their beloved sport, and when UEFA gave the news fans started similar protests to when the European Super League was announced. Many football fans stated it took the flair and magic away from the Champions League as smaller teams will be less likely to escape the large league table due to there being so many bigger clubs. A smaller club getting through the group stage brought that real underdog feel to the tournament and that’s what made it so interesting.

I spoke to a variety of different people on the situation and here’s what some of them had to say,

Jay, aged 40, a Liverpool fan, said this, 

“It’s just pure greed, they want more matches containing bigger teams that generate more money that they don’t even need. Once it begins you will see the impact it will have on players immediately, they are already playing an unreal amount of games a year and UEFA thinks it’s a good idea to add more, which will probably lead to lower quality matches as well since all the players will be tired.”

Harvey, aged 16, a Manchester United fan, said this,

“I don’t see the problem, to be honest, it’s more football for fans to enjoy and players to grow their careers even further. Yes, there is that argument of pushing the players too hard, but seriously, they are elite athletes, they literally train for situations like this. It’s about time football made a big change like this, it keeps it fresh.”   

Andy, aged 74, an Aston Villa fan, said this, 

“I’m not completely against the idea of the new format, however when I read about it, it seemed very messy. It took me a couple of reads to fully understand what UEFA’s plans were. The only thing I can say is, wait and see how it works because the great thing about tournaments like this, is if it doesn’t work, they could always go back to the previous format that worked better.”

As you can see, I received a wide range of responses, some who agree with the new format, some against it, and some who are still on the fence and waiting to see it in action before they deliver their final verdict. There is certainly a lot of uncertainty regarding the format change, and it’s definitely one of those things that need to be seen in action to make a proper judgement on it. 

The cons that were immediately outlined when UEFA announced plans for the new format included, 

• Higher chance of fitness/injury problems for teams.
• Underdogs/smaller teams have less chance of getting through as the new format favours the bigger teams.
• The Football calendar is already crammed and adding more may cause future problems.

These were the main concern for football fans when the new format was announced, however, there are plenty more problems brought to light by fans around the world, with all these problems needing solutions as soon as possible to make it easier for fans to adapt to the new format.

With a lot of focus on the cons of the new format, the pros are going unnoticed. Some pros of the new format include, 

• More games for fans to enjoy. 
• Bigger teams are more likely to get through to the knockouts as a team can’t be punished for finishing 3rd in a group with more points than a team who came 2nd in another group.
• More income for teams, such as tickets, TV licensing, and much more.
• Keeps football fresh and interesting for long-time fans. 
• Allows more players to get game time as more squad depth will be needed.

These are just some of the pros the new format can offer, however when you weigh the pros against the cons, the cons outweigh the pros in a substantial way. It will be up to the individual to come up with their own opinion but I imagine most people would prefer a fit and healthy squad rather than more revenue from the minimum of two extra matches they will have to add to their jam-packed calendar year.  

So in conclusion, the new UEFA Champions League format is in constant questioning on how it will work in relation to the teams, the players, and the fans around the world. Although there are some obvious problems right from the start, perhaps UEFA and the football higher-ups can come up with a solution to make sure those problems don’t exist once the new format gets underway in 2024. However, change doesn’t come easy to most people, and changing something that didn’t necessarily need changing, may make it harder for people to accept the new format. Only time will tell if the new format works and for fans of the current UEFA Champions format, enjoy the final season and a half of it, as in the season 2024/2025 the new era of the UEFA Champions League begins.