The UEFA has responded to the Super League by approving the new format for the club competitions starting from 2024-25.
The UEFA’s official website confirmed the reforms came ‘after extensive consultation and received unanimous support from the ECA board of directors and the UEFA club competitions committee last Friday’.
And the changes have been designed to ensure a bright future for European football at all levels and ‘meet the needs of all’.
The UEFA has responded to the Super League by approving the new format for the club competitions starting from 2024-25.
The UEFA’s official website confirmed the reforms came ‘after extensive consultation and received unanimous support from the ECA board of directors and the UEFA club competitions committee last Friday’.
And the changes have been designed to ensure a bright future for European football at all levels and ‘meet the needs of all’.
The UEFA wrote the new format confirms ‘the common commitment to the principle of open competition and sporting merit across the continent, the common purpose is also to support the national championships’.
The new Champions League will increase from 32 to 36 teams. It will lead to the transformation from the traditional group stage into a single league stage that includes all participating teams.
Each club will thus be guaranteed a minimum of 10 games against 10 different opponents (five home and five away), instead of the previous six games against three teams.
The top eight in the League will automatically qualify for the knockout stages, while the teams finishing ninth to 24th will compete in a play-off to secure a place in the round of 16.
A similar format change will also apply to the UEFA Europea League and the Europa Conference League.
The qualification to the Champions League will continue to be open and earned through performance in domestic competitions.
All matches before the Final will be played midweek, recognising the importance of the national calendar.