New UEFA Champions League Format Explained: Europe's Top Tournament Will Look Very Different Next Season

This is the last ever week of UEFA Champions League group stage soccer as we know it.

Europe's top club competition will feature a new format starting from next season. It will also include 36 teams, instead of 32.

New UEFA Champions League Format

Rather than dividing 32 teams into eight groups of four, the 2024/25 group stage will be one giant 36-team league.

That does not mean that each team will play 35 matches. Not quite.

But there will be a lot more fixtures during the group stage, with teams playing eight games each, rather than the six that fans have become accustomed to.

There will still be a group stage draw to decide who plays who. That draw will be seeded, using four different pots.

Each team will be drawn to play two opponents from each pot - one home game and one away match.

This means that for the first time in Champions League history, teams from Pot 1 will face each other during the group stage. So expect some heavyweight clashes earlier than usual.

The new Champions League format is likely to provide heavyweight clashes during the group phase

IMAGO/Action Plus/David Blunsden

However, there is likely to be less jeopardy for the big hitters because the top 24 teams will all progress to the knockout stage.

League position still counts for something though. As well as earning extra prize money, finishing in the top eight will see a team progress directly to the last 16, while the teams placed ninth to 24th must compete in a play-off round.

There will be no draw for the play-off round. The team that finishes ninth will play the team that finishes 24th - 10th vs 23rd, 11th vs 22nd, and so on.

This means that two teams from the same country could meet in the play-off round.

However, UEFA will prevent teams from the same country facing each other during the group stage, with one possible exception. If one country has five teams in the group stage then it is plausible that two of them could face each other during the mega-league phase.

The bottom eight teams in the group stage will all be eliminated from Europe completely - no more Champions League dropouts entering the Europa League halfway through a season.

Why Is The Champions League Changing?

More games means more money - both for UEFA and for the clubs involved.

It is also hoped that having the biggest teams playing each other earlier will make the tournament more exciting from the very start.

How Many More Games?

There will be a total of 189 games in next season's UEFA Champions League, not including the qualifying rounds.

That is an increase of 64 games from the current format.

To fit these extra matches into the calendar, the group stage will end in January, rather than in December.