The European Football Association (Wifa) hopes to finalize the new Champions League system, the “Champions League”, starting in 2024 on Tuesday and Wednesday during its general assembly in Vienna in an attempt to give broadcasters the ability to broadcast four additional clubs and just 100 matches.
The timing is remarkable, with some breathtaking head-to-heads in the current edition following the play-offs, especially in the semi-final between Real Madrid and Manchester City.
But the Continental Confederation is set to put an end to criticism of its draft, unveiled in the spring of 2021, the biggest change in two decades, after quelling a surge of elite clubs in the creation of a closed league “Super League”.
And if a decision on a future Champions League is not announced in the Executive Committee’s work schedule on Tuesday, it is because, according to a source close to the case, it is “not 100% guaranteed”. The Continental Organization appears to be hoping to reach its final form on the sidelines of its annual general assembly this week.
One of the highlights of the new project is the increase in the number of participants from 32 to 36 clubs starting from the 2024-2025 season, and the replacement of the first round of eight groups of four clubs with a mini-championship in one group similar to chess tournaments where each team plays 10 matches against 10 opponents, two different players instead of the current six, with five matches at home and five away.
The first eight clubs will automatically qualify for the Round of 16, while the clubs ranked 9th to 24th will play in the play-offs, with the advantage of playing the second leg in club territory between 17th and 24th. Clubs are eliminated from 25th place to last without advancing to the equivalent Europa League competition.
Eight playoffs advance to the 1/8 finals and join the top eight.
The new system is designed to host fewer marginal group matches and more matches between the continent’s top clubs.
Busy calendar. By expanding the group stage, the Confederation will satisfy the request of carriers who will be able to broadcast 225 matches instead of the current 125, as well as clubs that will receive larger rewards even in the event of early elimination and fans who need strong matches.
But European football, packed with a hectic calendar, could face additional fatigue, prompting the European Club Association, which includes 30 professional clubs, to require each team to play eight matches to save some of the remaining distances for local championships.
Some big clubs object to this new system, even if their representative to the Association of European Clubs, Qatari Nasser Al Khulaifi, is in complete conflict of interest between his role as president of France’s Paris Saint-Germain and head of Qatari media group BN. , which is currently broadcasting the Champions League matches in France, judging by what someone familiar with the file sees.
– Merit or Satisfaction – Another point of contention is the provision of four extra entry tickets according to the European Union classification, which means that some big clubs will be awarded if they fail to qualify, according to their latest results.
The big clubs seem to like the proposal, in contrast to the European Club Association, which believes that all participants must qualify through local leagues, a fundamental principle of European football played an important role in the face of the Super League promoters, which included the admission of “founding members “.
One of the new ideas put forward by Slovenian UEFA President Aleksandar Čeferin is to organize the semi-finals and the final in the same city in a Final 4 system.
In early 2022, the rights to postpone European competitions were granted €5 billion for the period from 2024 to 2027, 50% more than the rights granted in 2018-2019, to tie this to the promised reform.