UEFA has announced a new format for the Champions League and Europa Leagues.
The new format, which will take effect in 2024, states that the total number of teams that would qualify to the Champions League will be extended from 32 to 36.
Also, the champions league group stage will be transformed to a single league stage where every team would play a minimum of 10 games (5 home and 5 aways).
The top 8 teams on the league table at the end of the league stage qualify to the round-off 16 while the 9th to 24th team on the table will compete in a two-legged play-off to reach the round-off 16 stage.
These changes also affect the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League as the competitions take similar changes with an expansion to 8 matches and 6 matches at the league stage respectively.
Furthermore, the Europa leagues may be expanded to 36 teams in the league stage.
Qualification to the Champions League remains open and earned through the teams’ performance in domestic competitions.
Qualification through the domestic league will be extended from 4 to 5 clubs. Additional qualification slot is given to club ranked 3rd in the championship of the association in 5th position in the UEFA national association ranking.
The final 2 qualification slots will be given “to the clubs with the highest club coefficient over the last five years that have not qualified for the Champions League group stage but have qualified either for the Champions League qualification phase, the Europa League or the Europa Conference League,” UEFA states.
