Serie A could be awarded fifth Champions League spot under new UEFA plan

Serie A could be awarded a fifth Champions League spot from 2024-25 under news plans outlined by UEFA.

Following the collapse of the proposed European Super League in April 2021, in which 12 leading sides threatened to create a breakaway competition from UEFA’s Champions League, European football’s governing body implemented changes to their premier competition.

Initially, it was suspected that these would include two places to teams who did not qualify automatically based on their historical performance as well as 10 group-stage fixtures.

However, UEFA have confirmed that neither of these changes will come to pass as they will introduce the ‘Swiss system’ which will see the number of group-stage participants increased from 32 to 36.

Rather than award an extra place to teams based on historical achievement, the two places will be awarded to countries whose teams have performed best in Europe the previous season.

It means Serie A could see a fifth team qualify for the Champions League from 2024 should Italian teams’ overall performance improve in Europe.

Had that rule been in place in 2022, England and Netherlands would have received the two extra spots.

In 2022, Italy saw their first European finalist since 2017 as Roma reached the Europa Conference League final where they will face Feyenoord.

Among the biggest amendments are that the groups will be split into four groups of nine with each team playing eight matches – four at home and four away – and the top four in each section qualifying for a round-of-16 knockout stage.

Furthermore, the association ranked fifth in UEFA’s coefficients’ table will see its third-place team qualify automatically to the group stage.

UEFA also confirmed there will be similar formats in the Europa League and Europa Conference League with both competitions including 36 teams in the group stage, split into four groups of nine with each side playing a minimum of eight matches.