Changes to the UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League is the most prestigious club competition in the world outside of the FIFA World Cup. The league is comprised of teams from Europe, a region that includes the top five continents in terms of football history and success.

The Champions League was first held in 1896 and has been around for a long time. Initially it was only for clubs from the European continent, but since 2006 the tournament has also been open to the winners of international competitions held by nations in other regions of the world สล็อตยูฟ่า.

Until recently the tournament was divided into eight groups of three teams. However, UEFA has decided to reform the Champions League in 2024 and make it a single league with all clubs playing eight matches each in the league stage.

This changes the way in which clubs will be drawn into groups and how they can qualify for the group stage. Instead of pooling 32 clubs into eight groups, UEFA will have all 36 teams placed into a single league with their opponents determined based on pre-season ranking positions.

In addition, UEFA has scrapped the idea of awarding two extra slots based on a club's performance in previous European competitions. Previously, these would have gone to the teams with the highest UEFA coefficient scores in the past five seasons.

But UEFA has now said it will make the two extra slots available to the teams in the top four of their leagues. This means England, Spain and Germany will all have four guaranteed group-stage places.

Another change will see the number of games in the group stage increased to 10 from six. This will help UEFA fit more matches into a congested Champions League calendar and ensure that all clubs play at least nine matches each season in the European Championships.

The change is expected to be approved by the UEFA board next year. It will also allow for the inclusion of an extra slot in the Champions League for the winners of European competitions that have not qualified for UEFA's premier competition.

UEFA has also confirmed that the semi-finals of the competition will remain as they are currently, with both clubs from the same country playing against each other in the final. In the past, these were played over a two-legged format.

It is expected that the new format will include four pots of nine teams, almost certainly based on the five-year club coefficient. Each team will play two teams from each pot (one home, one away) to create an eight-match fixture list of roughly equal strength.

This will enable a more even spread of big matches in the competition, with more opportunities for the best teams to come together and play against each other. It should also make it easier for teams to find a route into the knockout phase, where they will have more likely than not been placed in a group with three other top-level teams.