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New Delhi, India
The Champions League group stage for the 2023-24 season came to a nervy end on Wednesday (Dec 13) evening as 16 teams made it through to the knockout stage. Unlike any other season, the group stage produced another fine spectacle as Premier League giants Manchester United and Newcastle United bowed out at the initial stage. They will now have to wait until next season before they can claim their place in the knockouts. However, that won’t be easy for sides across Europe as next season will mark the revamp of the Champions League group stage and will be based on the Swiss League model with 36 teams participating in the continental tournament’s initial stage.
Last-16 draw on Monday ?
Which ties do you want to see?
*No side can face another team from the same country pic.twitter.com/JqPfXPousO
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) December 14, 2023
How did the previous model work?
Since 2003-04, the Champions League had adopted a simple model of eight groups of four teams each; thereby 32 teams participating in the tournament. Group winners and group runners-up would qualify for the knockout stage consisting of 16 teams after each team played six matches in the group stage. Each team in the group played the rest of the three teams twice (once home and once away) and teams were ranked according to the number of points collected (three points for a win, one for a draw and none for defeat).
How will the new model work?
From the 2024-25 season of the Champions League there will be 36 teams that will participate in the tournament. Therefore, there will be four additional teams in the competition compared to previous seasons of the Champions League. There will be four groups of nine teams each now. Like the traditional group stage, the teams will play every other opponent in the group, however, unlike the previous format the teams will meet only once (in the previous format teams from the same group met twice).
Therefore each team will play eight group stage matches with no home-away format for a particular tie. Each team will play four matches on home ground and four matches on away ground. UEFA (European football’s governing body) has not yet cleared the permutations on how the away and home matches of a particular team will be decided.
With the same points format (three points for a win, one for a draw and none for defeat) all the 36 teams will be ranked according to their performance in the group stage. The top eight teams from the revised rankings based on group stage performance will directly qualify for the Round of the 16 while teams ranked from 9th to 24th will play in a playoff round (not cleared by UEFA whether it will be single or double leg).
The top eight teams will then be joined by the eight playoff round winners as they will contest the Round of 16 in a two-legged (home-away) format. This will be followed by a two-legged quarterfinal and a two-legged semifinal. Teams reaching the final will meet in the Champions League final (single leg) at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena in May 2025.
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How many matches will be played in the CL season?
Under the current format, excluding the qualification rounds, teams play a total of 125 matches in the Champions League season. This includes 96 matches in the group stage (12 matches each in eight groups) while two-legged ties during the Round of 16 (16 matches), quarterfinal (8 matches) and semifinal (4 matches) constitute 28 matches. The single leg final takes the total season count for the Champions League to 125 matches.
Under the new format, there will be 36 matches in one group as each team will play every other opponent once. With four such groups on offer, the total number of group stage matches will be 144, a net increase of 48 group stage matches from the previous format. If teams meet in a two-legged playoff round to decide qualification for the Round of 16, it will constitute 16 matches.
Like the previous format, the Round of 16 (16 matches), quarterfinal (8 matches) and semifinal (4 matches) will constitute 28 matches. Adding the 16 playoff matches and the final at the neutral venue in Munich, there will be 45 knockout stage matches in the Champions League. This will result in 16 more knockout stage matches compared to the previous format; taking the overall count for the season to 189 Champions League matches (64 more matches than the previous format).
In case the playoff round for the Round of 16 is played in a single-legged tie (one match only), then the total number of knockout stage matches will be 37 while there will be 181 matches in the entire Champions League season (56 more matches than previous format).
How will the schedule work?
Under the current format, there are six matchdays in the Champions League for all the six matches each team plays. However, with eight matches to be played by each team in the group stage, UEFA will have to find two more matchdays to accommodate the new schedule for the Champions League calendar. This could even result in group stage matches being played over the weekends while the playoff round for the Round of 16 could also be hosted in January of each year (Champions League matches have never been hosted in January before).