36 teams, one group, eight opponents: revamped Champions League explained

The draw for the new-look Champions League takes place in Monaco on Thursday with excitement over the new format tempered by some concern over how easy it will be for fans to grasp the concept.
The straightforward 32-team competition with eight groups of four, from which the top two in each progressed to the knockout round, has been replaced by one with 36 clubs in one giant league. And whereas before the group stage was completed well before Christmas, from this season it will be the end of January before the clubs who have qualified for the knockout phase are known.
Most observers agree that the old Champions League, which had been unchanged for 21 years, was in danger of stagnating and needed a shake-up. The group stage meant home and away ties against three opponents, and some clubs had often tied up qualification by halfway through the group.
The broadcasters that provide 90 per cent of Uefa’s revenues were another driving force, along with the European Club Association, representing most of the major clubs, who were seeking more cash from the Champions League to placate those who might seek to resurrect the collapsed European Super League.
The TV companies appear to have been convinced by the new competition — Uefa’s rights deals from 2024-27 are up 25 per cent. It could mean up to an extra £23million a season for top clubs. Manchester City earned £114million when they won the Champions League in 2023.
Each club in the competition will play eight different opponents selected by computer. The format is similar to the “Swiss model” sometimes used in chess. The eight opponents will be of varying strengths with two opponents selected from each of four pots of seeds, which are based on performances in European competition over the past five seasons.
Four of the matches will be played at home and four away. The results will determine places in a 36-team league table, with goal difference, then goals scored and then disciplinary record taken into account if the number of points is the same. The final 18 matches will take place simultaneously on January 29.
The top eight in the table qualify for the round of 16 to be played in March and the bottom 12 clubs are eliminated. The 16 clubs who finished in ninth to 24th spots will go into a home and away knockout play-off round in February.
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The draw for the last 16 will be seeded, based on where the clubs have finished in the league table, with the top club in one half of the draw and the second seed in the other. The tennis-style seeding in the knockout stage means the top two clubs cannot meet until the final.
Uefa insists the competition will ensure interest remains for much longer in the new format. It has carried out thousands of computer simulations to ensure that there will be fewer “dead rubbers”, where the outcome of a match is in effect meaningless.
The head of competitions strategy at Uefa, Stéphane Anselmo, has revealed that clubs should be able to make it to the knockout play-offs by securing two wins and two draws from their eight group matches, giving hope to even the smaller teams. He said: “We simulated that qualification should be possible with an average of 7.6 points, which means two victories and two draws.”
Unlike the old competition, when balls were drawn manually, most of the draw for the new format will be done by computer.
The 36 teams are split into four pots of seeds based on their Uefa club coefficient. At the draw in Monaco each team will be drawn by a personality — a former player — and a computer programme will determine their eight opponents, two from each pot, within seconds.
There will be “country protection”, so English clubs cannot face each other in the group stage. Each club can also face a maximum of two clubs from the same country. For example, Aston Villa could be drawn against Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, but then no other German club.
The match dates will be confirmed on Saturday, to avoid any clashes with Europa League and Conference League games, which are being drawn on Friday. Those competitions will use the same format of a 36-team single league, but clubs in the Conference League will play only six opponents instead of eight.
Two spots have gone to the countries whose teams collectively had the best record in European competitions last season. Italy and Germany had the best overall records and Bologna and Borussia Dortmund — who finished fifth in Serie A and the Bundesliga respectively — qualified.
France — the fifth-ranked national league — has also gained an extra place and now has three automatic spots, with third-placed Brest joining Paris Saint-Germain and Marseilles.
The fourth extra place goes to a national champion from lower-ranked countries. They now play for five qualifying places instead of four spots last season.