The new format has a ‘league phase’ rather than a ‘group phase’. It ditches eight groups of four and crams all the competing clubs together in one massive table. The format is based on the Swiss system used in chess, and does not require every team to play all of the others.
The number of teams participating increases by four, to 36, with each participant now playing eight matches in the first phase, instead of six in previous iterations. But instead of just three different opponents twice, home and away, teams will face a different team in every game.
In total, there will be 189 matches in the competition proper, capped by the final in Munich on May 31, up from the previous 125.
UEFA hopes the new format will lead to more competitive fixtures from the off, with bigger games earlier in the tournament because teams from pot one (aka, the big names) will play each other earlier rather than largely being kept apart until the knockout phase in February and March, as happened with the previous format. It will also give teams in pot four more of an opportunity to pick up points, because they will be playing two other sides from that pot among their eight matches.
Once the league phase has been completed, which will now take until late January, the top eight sides in the table will qualify directly for a 16-team knockout round, with the other eight places decided by a newly introduced set of two-leg play-offs contested by the teams who finish between ninth and 24th in the league.
The round of 16 and beyond will now be seeded, so the teams who finish first and second in the league phase cannot face each other until the final.
This season’s lineup will be completed tonight, with four clubs winning their places via the last of seven pre-tournament play-offs.
