New Champions League format from 2024

[Jonezy]

UEFA clapping their hands of the timing of the Super League announcement. Now there is less focus on the changing of the CL format. The wild card rule is disgusting and how will you ever make a fair draw of who meets who, when you are only playing 10 teams out of 36?

 

Please stop this madness someone. 

 

At least we have seemed to hit our glory years just before it all turns into a huge capitalistic turd.

[UniFox21]

A break down of the new format.

 

Edit: 

Makes it more likely for bigger teams to qualify with that second chance if they screw up their games. 

Appears to just merge the groups into a league, which seems counter intuitive. 

 

 

 

Edited 19 April 2021 by UniFox21

[Strokes]

11 hours ago, st albans fox said:

You have way more faith in the football authorities than 99.9% of the rest of us ...

 

turkeys don’t vote for Xmas ... money talks and the big clubs generate the vast majority of the money - the rest of us are riding on their coat tails and their owners have decided they aren’t prepared to fund that any longer - they’ve bought the club to generate vast profits for them and they want those profits ....

 

it’s anathema to the very principles of competitive sport but then again, when did principles matter when it came to money ??????

We are the fans, we are the fùcking money and it’s high time we realised that!! 
We just need to boycott on mass this abortion of an idea and boycott any sponsors or endorsements it receives. 

[StanSP]

1 minute ago, Strokes said:

We are the fans, we are the fùcking money and it’s high time we realised that!! 
We just need to boycott on mass this abortion of an idea and boycott any sponsors or endorsements it receives. 

Why do we have to wait til Xmas time?! 

[filbertway]

2 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

A break down of the new format

 

 

 

No mention of the wildcard entries there

[Strokes]

1 minute ago, StanSP said:

Why do we have to wait til Xmas time?! 

We need baby Jesus on board.

[Osavo]

3 hours ago, bovril said:

I think what he was saying is that for the clubs, the fans don't matter that much. Obviously as supporters it's shit

I get that, but if it's a poorer spectacle that impacts on the clubs too, right? As it makes them and their 'product' less marketable. As much as I hate describing it that way, it's true.

[Foxxed]

On 19/04/2021 at 02:25, noodles said:

the PL is finished without the big 6, without Man u, liverpool then the tv deal is history, most clubs will go bankrupt.

  

23 hours ago, Gubbins said:

I'm not convinced kicking out the 6 will result in financial collapse.

 

The Premier League's money comes from TV deals sold all around the world. People all around the world want to watch Man United, Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. They don't want to watch Crystal Palace, Burnley, Newcastle, Wolverhampton and us.

 

The big six leave, or provide an alternative to Premier League TV contracts, then so goes the majority of the TV money. And the other clubs are, and have always been, dependent on that money. They won't be able to service their increasing number of loans. The debt collectors will come in. The big six have a gun against the head of the Premier League.

 

Since the money was concentrated into the Premier League, then further concentrated into six teams by the Champions League, and the other teams became fanatically dependent on those six, any sense of fairness and justice can be thrown out the window. The wolves are guarding the hen house.

 

Edited 19 April 2021 by Foxxed

[Foxxed]

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/19/leeds-put-champions-league-earn-it-t-shirts-in-liverpool-dressing-room

I hope we wear the t-shirts too. Leeds kitman made them apparently

[Kilworthfox]

So the super League Idea is postponed (Definitely not over!) for now.

 

https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0268-12157d69ce2d-9f011c70f6fa-1000--new-champions-league-format-explained/

 

However, everyone was upset at the closed shop idea for the 9 original ESL members. Yet from 2024/25 this is exactly what we will have from this new look Champions League, with 4 new additional teams...

 

How will the four additional spots be allocated?

Qualification for the Champions League will continue to be open and depend on a club’s final position in the previous season’s domestic league competition. The additional four slots available in 2024/25 will be allocated according to three different criteria:

 

Slot one: awarded to a club from the country placed fifth in UEFA’s national association coefficient rankings. Each association's coefficient is based on the results of its clubs’ performances in five previous Champions League and Europa League seasons. (Probably a French or Portuguese team, who finish 4th in 2023/24)

 

Slot two: awarded to the domestic league champion with the highest club coefficient among all other domestic champions that have not automatically qualified for the Champions League’s league stage. (This season would be a team like Slavia Prague who were league champions, but did not make the group stages)

 

Slots three and four: awarded to the two clubs with the highest club coefficients that have not qualified automatically for the Champions League’s league stage, but have qualified either for the Champions League qualification phase or the Europa League/the Europa Conference League (due to start in the 2021/22 season).

(On the evidence of this season this would likely be Chelsea & Liverpool, or 1 of possibly Tottenham or Arsenal).

 

My own personal opinion, is that I am in favour of Slot 2!  This brings back a European Cup feel to a competition that is actually mis named as its not a League for champions as it stands, but a Some Champions & some teams who have done well League, but not these champions, as they are from a financially poor league League & the "Big" clubs don't actually want to go there League.

 

Slot 1 is more mediocrity, but I don't mind that so much, I do like having a European Elite (if not all champions) League, and the wealth of European football should be spread around more, its not just for the Top 3 Leagues. So maybe Braga could dream, and do a Leicester? Once again great!

 

Slot 3, is a disgrace, and we should all be up in arms about this, as it rewards failure, just because you are a wealthy club.

 

*However! I believe there is something that the ESL clubs and UEFA negotiators may not have considered feasible!

https://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/club/#/yr/2021

The coefficient is calculated every 5 years for UEFA team qualification. This year Leicester will lose 20 points for being Champions back in 2016. In turn, if Spurs & Arsenal continue to fail domestically over the next few seasons, finishing anywhere between 10th and 7th (See Everton) then their Coefficient will become so poor they wont even be able to qualify with the rules of slot 3 fingers crossed, what utterly useless c*nts 

 

Up the Atalanta then!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest bennytwohats]

On 20/04/2021 at 00:15, Foxxed said:

  

 

The Premier League's money comes from TV deals sold all around the world. People all around the world want to watch Man United, Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. They don't want to watch Crystal Palace, Burnley, Newcastle, Wolverhampton and us.

 

The big six leave, or provide an alternative to Premier League TV contracts, then so goes the majority of the TV money. And the other clubs are, and have always been, dependent on that money. They won't be able to service their increasing number of loans. The debt collectors will come in. The big six have a gun against the head of the Premier League.

 

Since the money was concentrated into the Premier League, then further concentrated into six teams by the Champions League, and the other teams became fanatically dependent on those six, any sense of fairness and justice can be thrown out the window. The wolves are guarding the hen house.

 

I don’t think it’s quite that black and white. The reason they want to watch those teams is because they’re at the top of the league competing for the title, also the teams at the top of the league are the ones in the big games, that get the big hype. If the current big teams left then a lot of that focus shifts onto the new top teams and their appeal increases. Clearly their is still an appeal in the current big teams and the fan base they’ve created, but I think over time that can be replaced - it really depends on how things play out imo

[CosbehFox]

The ultras of AC Milan’s statement is absolute bang on. Hypocrites shouldn’t celebrate right now

[davieG]

11 minutes ago, Kilworthfox said:

So the super League Idea is postponed (Definitely not over!) for now.

 

https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0268-12157d69ce2d-9f011c70f6fa-1000--new-champions-league-format-explained/

 

However, everyone was upset at the closed shop idea for the 9 original ESL members. Yet from 2024/25 this is exactly what we will have from this new look Champions League, with 4 new additional teams...

 

How will the four additional spots be allocated?

Qualification for the Champions League will continue to be open and depend on a club’s final position in the previous season’s domestic league competition. The additional four slots available in 2024/25 will be allocated according to three different criteria:

 

Slot one: awarded to a club from the country placed fifth in UEFA’s national association coefficient rankings. Each association's coefficient is based on the results of its clubs’ performances in five previous Champions League and Europa League seasons. (Probably a French or Portuguese team, who finish 4th in 2023/24)

 

Slot two: awarded to the domestic league champion with the highest club coefficient among all other domestic champions that have not automatically qualified for the Champions League’s league stage. (This season would be a team like Slavia Prague who were league champions, but did not make the group stages)

 

Slots three and four: awarded to the two clubs with the highest club coefficients that have not qualified automatically for the Champions League’s league stage, but have qualified either for the Champions League qualification phase or the Europa League/the Europa Conference League (due to start in the 2021/22 season).

(On the evidence of this season this would likely be Chelsea & Liverpool, or 1 of possibly Tottenham or Arsenal).

 

My own personal opinion, is that I am in favour of Slot 2!  This brings back a European Cup feel to a competition that is actually mis named as its not a League for champions as it stands, but a Some Champions & some teams who have done well League, but not these champions, as they are from a financially poor league League & the "Big" clubs don't actually want to go there League.

 

Slot 1 is more mediocrity, but I don't mind that so much, I do like having a European Elite (if not all champions) League, and the wealth of European football should be spread around more, its not just for the Top 3 Leagues. So maybe Braga could dream, and do a Leicester? Once again great!

 

Slot 3, is a disgrace, and we should all be up in arms about this, as it rewards failure, just because you are a wealthy club.

 

*However! I believe there is something that the ESL clubs and UEFA negotiators may not have considered feasible!

https://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/club/#/yr/2021

The coefficient is calculated every 5 years for UEFA team qualification. This year Leicester will lose 20 points for being Champions back in 2016. In turn, if Spurs & Arsenal continue to fail domestically over the next few seasons, finishing anywhere between 10th and 7th (See Everton) then their Coefficient will become so poor they wont even be able to qualify with the rules of slot 3 fingers crossed, what utterly useless c*nts 

 

Up the Atalanta then!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surely above all else the Champions of each FA should be in there even if it means a qualification round. If that means we sacrifice places then so be it. It shouldn't be just about money. If FIFA can play WC matches in Countries with football in it's infancy to help them grow then surely UEFA can do the same for the FAs they are responsible for to help them develop?

[Kilworthfox]

1 minute ago, davieG said:

Surely above all else the Champions of each FA should be in there even if it means a qualification round. If that means we sacrifice places then so be it. It shouldn't be just about money. If FIFA can play WC matches in Countries with football in it's infancy to help them grow then surely UEFA can do the same for the FAs they are responsible for to help them develop?

Agreed. That was the European Cup. I'd like to see representation of more of the Slovan Bratislava's, Haduk Split's and CSKA's of European football, or at least fairer representation for each league. 

[CosbehFox]

1 minute ago, bennytwohats said:

I don’t think it’s quite that black and white. The reason they want to watch those teams is because they’re at the top of the league competing for the title, also the teams at the top of the league are the ones in the big games, that get the big hype. If the current big teams left then a lot of that focus shifts onto the new top teams and their appeal increases. Clearly their is still an appeal in the current big teams and the fan base they’ve created, but I think over time that can be replaced - it really depends on how things play out imo

We have this idea of how fans across the world view the PL but give this a read. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/20/will-football-fans-in-asia-embrace-the-european-super-league

The big six won’t say it but their support from around the world is equally reliant on the PL and everything that sounds. The broadcasters across the world make a huge thing of the culture and atmosphere. The billing of an awkward trip to Burnley is a unique selling point as daft as it sounds. 
 

If the clubs were not aware of this, they would have suggested the Super League becomes a weekend tournament. Therefore deeming their domestic competition irrelevant. 
 

As much these wankstains don’t like to hear it, sport is partly reliant on history because it places things in context and elevates it. 

[Guest bennytwohats]

23 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

We have this idea of how fans across the world view the PL but give this a read. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/20/will-football-fans-in-asia-embrace-the-european-super-league

The big six won’t say it but their support from around the world is equally reliant on the PL and everything that sounds. The broadcasters across the world make a huge thing of the culture and atmosphere. The billing of an awkward trip to Burnley is a unique selling point as daft as it sounds. 
 

If the clubs were not aware of this, they would have suggested the Super League becomes a weekend tournament. Therefore deeming their domestic competition irrelevant. 
 

As much these wankstains don’t like to hear it, sport is partly reliant on history because it places things in context and elevates it. 

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing.

[yorkie1999]

Should go back to it's original format, then money is immaterial. Champions go into one competition, cup winners into another. They're all moaning about the amount of games they have to play, turning back the clock would solve the problem of everyone wanting a piece of the pie. How can a team be 4th and gain entry to a champions cup?  It's like the worst position ever. 

[davieG]

27 minutes ago, yorkie1999 said:

Should go back to it's original format, then money is immaterial. Champions go into one competition, cup winners into another. They're all moaning about the amount of games they have to play, turning back the clock would solve the problem of everyone wanting a piece of the pie. How can a team be 4th and gain entry to a champions cup?  It's like the worst position ever. 

More justifiable, well just about than qualifying because you were in it a couple of seasons ago.

[Chrysalis]

I see they watered down the wildcard to require europa qualification, maybe thats why the elite threw their toys out of the pram as they probably wanted more then that.

[Muzzy_Larsson]

On 19/04/2021 at 17:34, Jonezy said:

UEFA clapping their hands of the timing of the Super League announcement. Now there is less focus on the changing of the CL format. The wild card rule is disgusting and how will you ever make a fair draw of who meets who, when you are only playing 10 teams out of 36?

 

Please stop this madness someone. 

 

At least we have seemed to hit our glory years just before it all turns into a huge capitalistic turd.

UEFA are just a different shade of the same shite as the ESL cohorts.

[Muzzy_Larsson]

44 minutes ago, yorkie1999 said:

Should go back to it's original format, then money is immaterial. Champions go into one competition, cup winners into another. They're all moaning about the amount of games they have to play, turning back the clock would solve the problem of everyone wanting a piece of the pie. How can a team be 4th and gain entry to a champions cup?  It's like the worst position ever. 

I think a fair scenario would be the winners of the top 16 leagues in Europe gain direct entry to the Champions League. Teams finishing second in the top 6 leagues also go straight in as they'll need appeased somehow.

That leaves ten places up for grabs via a qualifying route. Teams that finished second in their leagues outwith the top 6 but still in the top 16 would have to play a single to legged qualifier and then have layers of qualifiers below that for teams in leagues outwith the top 16. None of this dropping out one competition into the other carry on either.

 

The above will never happen, things have gone too far in terms of greed, money and commercialism now but something like this would distribute the wealth more evenly and fairly, instead of concentrating it to the top 5 leagues as is currently the case, ironically who have and generate the most money anyway. It'd also restore the Europa League/UEFA cup to the strong and exciting competition it once was.

 

Oh and I'd slap every side involved in this ESL farce with a five year ban from all European competition to teach them a lesson.

[filbertway]

I don't think anything will happen till a big club goes bust. Then there'll be enough people realise that change needs to happen and there needs to be a reset in terms of how much players are paid. 

 

It costs £25 to watch conference football as a result of the higher amounts of money being spent up the pyramid.

 

Championship clubs massively overspending in an attempt to get a little taste of the riches of the league. Greed will kill off plentty of clubs in the next 10 years.

[RonnieTodger]

Just realised that you can finish 24th out of 36 and still go on to win it  

[RonnieTodger]

Also, if they're that desperate for more games among the top teams, it might have been easier to go back to the old Champions League format with a second group stage for the last 16. 

 

As for the Europa League, it's far more interesting when it's straight knock out.

 

[StriderHiryu]

Interesting post on Reddit about the new format with some examples of how the new format would work:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/mvhslm/ucl_2024_reform_how_it_works_and_why_its_actually

 

 

Here would be an example of how the draw could work if it the league stopped today. So in this example we'd be in Inter's column and play all of the teams there once for a total of 10 games. So we'd play Inter, Juventus and PSG once each among others in the third row. Note though that every team in the competition actually plays a unique set of 10 games (!), no 2 teams play exactly the same number of fixtures. 

 

PSG games	Liverpool Games	Inter Games	Red Star Games
h. Bayern (1)	a. Atletico (1)	h. PSG (1)	a. ManUnited (1)
a. Real (1)	h. Bayern (1)	a. Juventus (1)	h. Barcelona (1)
h. Benfica (2)	a. ManUnited (1)	h. Seville (1)	a. Liverpool (2)
a. Zenit (2)	h. Ajax (2)	a. Borussia (2)	h. Lyon (2)
h. Chelsea (2)	a. Borussia (2)	h. Zenit (2)	a. Porto (2)
a. Inter (3)	h. Olympiakos (3)	a. Leipzig (3)	h. Besiktas (3)
h. Monaco (3)	a. Sporting (3)	h. Kiev (3)	a. Monaco (3)
a. PSV (3)	h. Wolfsburg (4)	a. Lille (4)	h. Villareal (3)
h. Brugges (4)	a. Brugges (4)	h. Leicester (4)	a. Rangers (4)
a. Milan AC (4)	h. Red Star (4)	a. Wolfsburg (4)	h. Frankfurt (4)

 

Now I am certainly not justifying the changes to the format, but it's quite interesting to see it pan out. Of course it still has big problems:

 

1. "Merit" qualification for some teams. In this case Dortmund and Liverpool would qualify despite not finishing in the top 4 positions.

 

2. The number of games could lead to a lot of dead rubber matches. Let's say a team loses all 4 of their opening games, what do they do for the remaining 6? Most likely play second string players and youth players. Qualification to the next round is available for 24 of the 36 teams so that should keep it reasonably competitive, but you've still got a lot of dead rubber matches lined up there.

 

3. 10 games for just the group stages is a lot. How do you possibly maintain a squad for that number of games, plus domestic league, plus two domestic cup trophies? 

 

 

Anyway I found it interesting to read the article mentioned above.