2024/25 season Champions League will kick off in the early morning of September 18th Beijing time, followed by the Europa League and the Europa Conference League. The new season brings significant changes to the three major European competitions, including an expansion to 36 teams, the elimination of the group stage, and the introduction of the Swiss system. The changes are massive compared to the original format. Let me explain it to you!

【Champions League Restructuring】

Under the old format, the Champions League group stage consisted of 32 teams, divided into 8 groups of 4 teams each. Each team played home and away against the other three teams in the group. The top two teams from each group advanced to the round of 16, while the third-place teams dropped down to the Europa League. Starting from the new season, the Champions League will expand to 36 teams and eliminate the group stage. All teams will compete in a format similar to a league, known as the "Swiss round".

The Swiss system, also known as round-robin, is based on the principle of selecting players with similar records to compete against each other to determine the strongest. It's important to note that the new Champions League format does not fully adopt the Swiss system, but rather incorporates its characteristics to create a "customized version".

Under the new format, the 36 teams will be divided into four pots. Each team will draw two opponents from within the same pot, playing one match at home and one match away. In total, eight teams will be drawn from the four pots, and each team will play eight matches, four at home and four away.

In this league-like stage, the top 8 teams in the final standings will automatically advance to the Champions League round of 16, while teams ranked 9th to 24th will compete in a knockout round for the remaining 8 spots. Teams ranked 25th to 36th will be directly eliminated and can no longer participate in the Europa League.

In the knockout stage, the seeded teams ranked 9th to 16th will be paired with the unseeded teams ranked 17th to 24th through a draw. The matches will be played over two legs, with the away goals rule in effect. The winners will advance to the round of 16 and face the top 8 seeded teams.

From the round of 16 onwards, the Champions League will continue to use the traditional knockout format, with two-legged ties in the round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals, and a single final at a neutral venue selected by UEFA.

In the new season, 32 of the spots in the Champions League remain the same as before, while the additional 4 spots will be allocated according to the following rules:

Spot 1: Goes to the third-placed team in the league that ranks 5th in the European competition rankings.

Spot 2: Goes to the domestic league champions, with the number of teams qualifying through the qualification rounds increasing from 4 to 5.

Spots 3-4: Go to the two leagues with the best performance in the UEFA club competitions from the previous season. (This coefficient is based on the total club coefficient points earned by each team in the league divided by the number of teams participating from that association)

【Europa League Restructuring】

In the new season, the Europa League will also expand to 36 teams, with 12 teams qualifying through domestic league performance, 12 teams qualifying through Europa League qualification rounds, 11 teams eliminated from the Champions League qualification rounds, and 1 spot reserved for the champions of the 2023/24 UEFA Conference League.

The format of the Europa League has also changed to a Swiss round, similar to the Champions League. The top 8 teams in the league stage will advance to the round of 16. Teams ranked 9th to 24th will compete in a two-legged knockout round, with the seeded teams ranked 9th to 16th playing against the unseeded teams. The winners of the knockout round will advance to the round of 16. Teams ranked 25th to 36th will be eliminated and cannot continue in the Europa Conference League.

【Europa Conference League Restructuring】

In the new season, the Europa Conference League will have 36 spots in the group stage, with 24 spots determined through the Conference League qualification rounds and the remaining 12 spots coming from the Europa League qualification rounds.

The 36 teams will be ranked according to European competition points and then divided into six pots, with 6 teams in each pot. Each team will be drawn against one team from each pot, playing three home matches and three away matches. This stage will also adopt the Swiss round format, with the exception of playing two fewer matches, and all other rules will remain the same as the Champions League and the Europa League.

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