Unpacking the UEFA Champions League's Innovative Format Change

Author: Jack Guing, Last Updated: 31 Jan 2025

The group phase of the 2024/2025 UEFA Champions League has officially come to a close with the top 8 teams heading into the last 16. The teams placed 9th to 24th will enter a play off round that will aim to get them into the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League. The teams who placed between 25th and 36th in the competition have now been eliminated and, unlike in the old format they do not drop down to the Europa League. The league phase has seen a few shocks with some big teams underperforming whereas other clubs have exceeded expectations. I’m going to take a look at the new format of the Champions League and look at the pros and cons compared to the old format.

Pros of the new format

• Increased Competition – The new Champions League format allows for more unpredictable competition. Each team has to play eight matches as opposed to six in the old format. With eight different opponents, clubs will face a greater number of teams, reducing repetitive matchups.
• More High-Profile Matches – Since top teams will no longer be confined to being in different groups, the league phase will see more high profile matchups early in the tournament, which enhances excitement for fans and broadcasters. For example this year we saw PSG vs Man City, Liverpool vs Real Madrid, Arsenal vs PSG and Barcelona vs Bayern Munich all in the league phase of the competition.
• Greater Revenue Opportunities – UEFA expects increased revenue from additional matches and more significant broadcasting deals, which will benefit clubs financially, particularly those regularly competing in the competition. Each team gets €2.1 million per win in the league phase and €700k for a draw.
• More Teams in the Tournament – Expanding from 32 to 36 teams gives more clubs a chance to compete at the highest level, benefiting teams from smaller leagues that previously struggled to qualify. Teams such as Brest, SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz and ŠK Slovan Bratislava all got a chance to compete at this level, with Brest actually qualifying for the play off round.
• Reduced Dead Rubber Matches – In the old group stage format, some teams had nothing to play for in the final matches. The new system saw the opposite take place with jeopardy involved in multiple games, whether it be to qualify for the play off round or finish in the top 8. All 18 matches took place at once and it led to an exciting final matchday with twists and turns.

Cons of the new format

• Fixture Congestion – The new format increases the number of matches from six to eight in the league phase compared to the old group phase, adding to an already packed football calendar. This raises concerns over player fatigue and injury risks which has been well documented in the world of football at the moment.
• Impact on Domestic Leagues – More Champions League matches may put pressure on domestic leagues to adjust schedules. The league phase continued into January which is usually a busy period particularly in the Premier League and has resulted in games being changed whether that be dates of the game or kick off times to counter act that a team was away from home in Europe during the week, getting a later kick off time at the weekend as a result.

I believe that the new UEFA Champions League format has been a success. As fans we got to see more exciting matchups in the group phase as opposed to having to wait until the knockout phases to see those games, and they are often cagey when we get to the knockout rounds. We also saw compelling stories such as Brest and Celtic qualifying for the play off rounds, something that probably would not have happened in the old format.

There was more jeopardy on the final match day with most teams having something to play for, with every position in the league phase mattering for the next round. This led to exciting games in the last matchday with a total of 64 goals across 18 games, an average of 3.5 goals per game. It will be interesting to see how the competition develops into the knockout rounds but I believe the new league phase has been successful.

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✒️ Jack Guing – Football and GAA Sports Expert

Jack Guing has a strong knowledge of the sport of GAA through the lens of performance analysis with multiple GAA teams. He holds a master's degree in sports performance. He has a huge love of all things sports, especially golf, soccer and GAA. He uses statistics and performance analysis in order to predict the outcome of matches and events.