UEFA will draw the match schedule for the new qualifying round in Monaco on Thursday, replacing the traditional group stage.
The first new Champions League format since 2003 promises more of almost everything Europe’s richest and most influential clubs wanted from UEFA.
There are four more places in a 36-team lineup; at least eight games each instead of six; Champions League matches scheduled in January for the first time; an increase in prize money of at least 25% to a minimum of 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion).
There was also further evidence, at this summer’s UEFA European Championships, that the ever-expanding international competitions are leaving players tired and unable to perform at their best all year round.
The new league phase of European club football’s premier event will feature 144 matches in total, compared to 96 in last season’s group stage.
The “key objectives,” UEFA said, are “to improve competitive balance and sporting interest and in the process increase the number of meaningful matches – matches with something at stake for both sides – throughout the competition.”
In the eighth and final round, all 36 teams play on the same night of January 29 to finalize the standings that will decide which eight teams advance directly to the round of 16 (and with which seeds in a tennis-like knockout draw), as well as which 16 advance to a new knockout round in February and which 12 are eliminated.
“We simulated that qualification should be possible with an average of 7.6 points, meaning two wins and two draws,” said UEFA head of competition strategy Stéphane Anselmo.
Money, above all, although it is not the only reason.
The Champions League has been the showcase of the highest quality in world football for the past 32 years and has allowed UEFA to allocate billions of euros (dollars) in prize money to the clubs that pay the highest salaries and transfer fees.
Yet influential European Club Association (ECA) officials grew bored with the group stage, saying it was too repetitive and lacking in drama. They wanted more games against stronger opponents that would be more appreciated by broadcasters, viewers and new fans around the world. Their influence over UEFA was potentially launching their own independent competition.
The road to an agreement on the format was bumpy. A controversial first proposal in 2019, which favoured historic clubs, was slowed by a backlash from mid-tier clubs and domestic leagues.
Intense agitation was sparked by the failed launch of the Super League in April 2021 by most of the same club officials who negotiated the Champions League reform with UEFA.
Approval of the final format came in May 2022, with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus all banned from talks and still pursuing UEFA in court, and was broadly what the rebel Super League clubs had negotiated.
Gone is the group stage format that was played for 21 seasons, in which 32 teams were divided into eight groups of four teams based on a seeding draw. The top two in each group advanced to the round of 16. The groups gave each team six games from September to December, playing each opponent once at home and once away.
This is a league with a single classification: 36 teams will play eight matches each against eight different opponents until January.
The top eight teams in the standings advance directly to the round of 16 in March. The teams ranked 9th to 24th play in the knockout playoffs in February. The bottom 12 teams are eliminated.
In the playoffs, teams ranked 9th through 16th are seeded in the draw to play second leg matches at home against unseeded teams ranked 17th through 24th.
Two of the countries whose teams had the best combined record in UEFA club competitions last season were Italy and Germany, meaning the teams that finished fifth in Serie A and the Bundesliga qualified: Bologna and Borussia Dortmund.
The fifth national league (based on five-year results in UEFA club competitions) gets a third direct entry. Currently it is France and Brest was third in Ligue 1.
National champions from lower-ranked countries get an additional place in the qualifying round. They now play for five qualifying spots instead of four last season.
The 36 teams will be drawn from four seeding pots based on each team’s “UEFA club coefficient” (the ranking based on results in five years of European competition). The seeding pot includes the recent Champions League winners and the defeated finalists, as well as Leipzig and Barcelona.
When a team’s ball is drawn, its list of eight opponents (two from each pot, one to play at home and one away) will be assigned by a software program and displayed within seconds.
Match dates will be confirmed on Saturday, to avoid any clashes between cities, as Europa League and Conference League matches are drawn on Friday in Monaco. Those lower-tier competitions are also a single qualifying league with 36 teams. Conference League teams play just six games.
Manchester City will receive €135 million ($151 million) from UEFA if it wins the Champions League in 2023. This season’s winner can earn as much as €150 million ($168 million), with the competition’s total revenues increasing thanks to the sale of 189 matches instead of 125.
The commercial strategy is managed by a UEFA-ECA joint venture, and the new Champions League sponsors include a cryptocurrency trading platform and a betting site.
Each of the 36 teams will receive a base amount of 18.6 million euros ($20.8 million), then 2.1 million euros ($2.35 million) for each match won and 700,000 euros ($782,000) for each draw.
Each place in the standings is worth more money, with shares worth 275,000 euros ($307,000) per place: 36 shares, or 9.9 million euros ($11 million), go to the team that finishes first in January and a single share to the team that finishes last.
Bonuses increase from 11 million euros ($12.3 million) per team for advancing to each knockout round.
Another prize fund of €853 million ($953 million) is allocated based on teams’ record in UEFA competitions and the value of domestic and global broadcast deals.
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