Uniquim
Full Member
So UEFA have been discussing the next TV cycle of the Champions League with 'stakeholders' and proposed a move to 'swiss system' for the Champions League. This would be for 2024-25 through 2026-27, and this is just a proposal being discussed with clubs at the moment.
Swiss System
"Out goes the 32-team group stage; in comes a 36-team “Swiss model” league, in which each club will play 10 games: five at home, five away. The fixtures will be based on seedings and the teams will be ranked from one to 36. The top eight will advance automatically to a 16-team knockout round, while the next 16 teams will go into a play-off round to decide those final eight slots."
Basically, everyone is in the same groups, but divivded by seedings, and you draw opponents from different seeding tiers, and play them. So United (2nd seed), could play Madrid (1st seed), Dynamo Kyiv (3rd seed), Marseille (4th seed) and Molde (5th seed), but then Madrid could end up playing Atalanta, Midtjylland & Olympiakos from the different seeding tiers. So the power balance between opponents should be pretty fair, and then you qualify for knockouts through an aggregate table. This should ensure that there's more to play for, for most teams until the last round of games. Esp. as 17 - 24 will likely still qualify you for Europa League.
4 More teams
The added 4 teams should have opened up more room for good clubs from smaller, but looks like one of this slots will go to France's 4th best team. One will go to teams that have performed well in recent seasons, to avoid another Ajax going to the semi finals, and then having to play qualifiers the next season.
And...
"The other two slots are an even bigger safety net for inconvenienced giants as these would be reserved for the teams with the best club coefficient, a ranking based on performances in Europe over the previous five seasons, that had made a mess of the previous season’s domestic campaign. Think Manchester United two seasons ago or Tottenham last season."
However, this is balanced out by
"There are some limits to the second chances being dished out, though, as the big leagues are capped at seven European slots each, with the general idea being four teams in the Champions League, two in the Europa League and one in the Europa Conference League. If any aristocrats slip into the consolation-prize zone, the domestic league in question will not be able to send a full quota to the second or third-tier competitions."
The English clubs, among other, have already been informed about this proposal. "European Leagues, the body that represent 37 domestic leagues across the continent, has called an extraordinary general meeting on Friday and will share UEFA’s plan with its members. It will tell them they must object to the plan on two key points: the number of games and who gets those four extra slots, what is known as “access” in the jargon."
[source]
Thoughts
I'm quite excited about this tbh, because I think it'll work well. I'd rather they not have a playoff-round, and just qualify the top 16, but I guess this would work. Could mean teams will push harder for top 8.
Wish they'd give the 4 new slots to teams from smaller leagues though. It's supposed to be hard to qualify for the Champions League. I don't want England to potentially have 6 slots.
The swiss system is also flexible in participants, so one downside it's that it's a lot easier for UEFA to increase the competition size in increments should they be pressured to do so by clubs around the continent. At least that's a downside for me, as I want the Champions League to be an exclusive competition which is hard to qualify for.
Swiss System
"Out goes the 32-team group stage; in comes a 36-team “Swiss model” league, in which each club will play 10 games: five at home, five away. The fixtures will be based on seedings and the teams will be ranked from one to 36. The top eight will advance automatically to a 16-team knockout round, while the next 16 teams will go into a play-off round to decide those final eight slots."
Basically, everyone is in the same groups, but divivded by seedings, and you draw opponents from different seeding tiers, and play them. So United (2nd seed), could play Madrid (1st seed), Dynamo Kyiv (3rd seed), Marseille (4th seed) and Molde (5th seed), but then Madrid could end up playing Atalanta, Midtjylland & Olympiakos from the different seeding tiers. So the power balance between opponents should be pretty fair, and then you qualify for knockouts through an aggregate table. This should ensure that there's more to play for, for most teams until the last round of games. Esp. as 17 - 24 will likely still qualify you for Europa League.
4 More teams
The added 4 teams should have opened up more room for good clubs from smaller, but looks like one of this slots will go to France's 4th best team. One will go to teams that have performed well in recent seasons, to avoid another Ajax going to the semi finals, and then having to play qualifiers the next season.
And...
"The other two slots are an even bigger safety net for inconvenienced giants as these would be reserved for the teams with the best club coefficient, a ranking based on performances in Europe over the previous five seasons, that had made a mess of the previous season’s domestic campaign. Think Manchester United two seasons ago or Tottenham last season."
However, this is balanced out by
"There are some limits to the second chances being dished out, though, as the big leagues are capped at seven European slots each, with the general idea being four teams in the Champions League, two in the Europa League and one in the Europa Conference League. If any aristocrats slip into the consolation-prize zone, the domestic league in question will not be able to send a full quota to the second or third-tier competitions."
The English clubs, among other, have already been informed about this proposal. "European Leagues, the body that represent 37 domestic leagues across the continent, has called an extraordinary general meeting on Friday and will share UEFA’s plan with its members. It will tell them they must object to the plan on two key points: the number of games and who gets those four extra slots, what is known as “access” in the jargon."
[source]
Thoughts
I'm quite excited about this tbh, because I think it'll work well. I'd rather they not have a playoff-round, and just qualify the top 16, but I guess this would work. Could mean teams will push harder for top 8.
Wish they'd give the 4 new slots to teams from smaller leagues though. It's supposed to be hard to qualify for the Champions League. I don't want England to potentially have 6 slots.
The swiss system is also flexible in participants, so one downside it's that it's a lot easier for UEFA to increase the competition size in increments should they be pressured to do so by clubs around the continent. At least that's a downside for me, as I want the Champions League to be an exclusive competition which is hard to qualify for.