In case you haven’t heard, the Champions League group stage is history, and on Thursday in Monaco, UEFA put on a show of strength in presenting the new reality for Europe’s elite club competition.
There was a lot of talk about the minutiae of algorithms and the ‘Swiss model’ format, but the bigger picture stuff was never too far away — even if the stalled European Super League project, backed so determinedly by Real Madrid and perhaps the biggest factor in these changes being made, was only mentioned once.
Still, that moment was probably the high point of the glitzy, star-packed ‘trailer’ played before the new ‘league phase’ draw actually got underway, when Zlatan Ibrahimovic almost uttered the words in full before UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin shushed him: “I told you. This will never happen.”
Ceferin and his European Club Association counterpart Nasser Al-Khelaifi (the Paris Saint-Germain president is a key ally in the ruling dynamic on the continent) could be seen joking together before and after the event — and the Ibrahimovic moment certainly brought plenty of laughter from the crowd at Monte Carlo’s Grimaldi Forum.
When it came to the fixtures themselves, Gianluigi Buffon and a chatty Cristiano Ronaldo provided the star power on stage, with Ronaldo pressing a performative giant button that apparently launched an externally-developed computer model into action on generating the competing clubs’ individual match lists.
Ronaldo prepares to set the draw in motion (Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images)
Now, as you just might be aware, there is a single league table of 36 teams rather than the previous eight-groups-of-four format, with each playing a total of eight matches against eight different opponents (four home, four away) from the middle of September to late January.
If a team finishes in the top eight after everyone has played their league-phase programme (the full fixture details are to be announced on Saturday), they qualify for the last 16 directly. If they come between ninth and 24th, they will have to contest one of eight two-legged play-offs to decide the other places. The remainder are eliminated from Europe for the season — no more Europa League safety net.
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The club executives and representatives present on Thursday will have taken some time to understand these new ins and outs, just like the rest of us. But according to those in charge, there have been no problems, so far.
“I have received very good feedback from the clubs,” said UEFA vice general secretary Giorgio Marchetti, a central figure in the genre of European football draw ceremonies, speaking with The Athletic. “I think the world has understood what the Champions League is going to be about. The matches that have been drawn are fantastic — you have never seen such a concentration of great matches.”
UEFA president Ceferin preparing for his on-stage appearance (Claudio Lavenia – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
It’s true that there are many highlights. Liverpool vs Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain vs Manchester City, Barcelona vs Bayern Munich and Inter Milan vs Arsenal all stand out.
Gabriele Gravina, a member of the UEFA executive committee and president of the Italian FA, said the “beautiful” new format “rewards the fundamental concept of solidarity” and tellingly described it as “appropriate to the time”.
Monchi, Aston Villa’s president of football operations, said: “I think it’s good to innovate. Maybe we are still a bit surprised but I think it can be competitive, especially the last two matchdays.
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“You don’t just have to look at your group but you have to look at all the teams and it’s going to be interesting. The previous format was losing a bit of consistency and emotion. Something had to be done.”
Bayer Leverkusen’s chief executive Fernando Carro, who helped devise the new system in his role with UEFA’s competition committee, added: “I hope now there will be tension until the last match. In the group stage, there was a bit less tension because many groups were already decided after the fourth match. I expect good games with this format, and I think it’s going to go very well.”
Ronaldo, Ceferin and Buffon take their seats (Kristian Skeie – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Carro believes some people “are not yet aware” of many other new features, such as a first week next month in which only Champions League matches are played from Tuesday to Thursday (with no games held in the Europa League or third-tier Conference League). Another attraction, he says, is that from the round of 16 onwards there is no draw to arrange who plays who, with the fixtures decided in advance depending on performance in the league phase — like at major national-team tournaments.
Borussia Dortmund CEO Carsten Cramer also said he was “excited” about the new format, especially after his club, beaten finalists in June, were drawn to face “the two best sides in Spain, Real Madrid and Barcelona”.
Monaco director Thiago Scuro saw positives in the fact “it allows more clubs to play in the Champions League and allows clubs to have more matches”, adding: “Two more matches represent a lot (it will be four more matches for teams contesting that play-off round). I think after a year of operation, the public will be fully engaged with this and understand it.”
Club Bruges chairman Bart Verhaeghe said: “To be honest, as a small team I prefer this format, because if you play twice against Manchester City, you know it will be very tough. Now we have the opportunity to play not only against City, but against more… not smaller teams, but other teams… and it will be more exciting for us.”
Clubs representatives at the Grimaldi Forum on Thursday (Kristian Skeie – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
The plan is for this new-look Champions League to continue until at least 2027. Could it be changed again?
“If it goes well, the format will continue as it is,” said Leverkusen’s Carro. “It’s not a question of changing the format every three years. The question is to see how it works and if it goes well, which I hope it will, then the same will carry on. If small things need to be corrected, they can be corrected, but in principle, I hope it will be a long-term format.”
This was the general belief among the crowds at Monte Carlo, where many executives said they hoped the new format would stay — although they are still concerned fans might not understand it correctly.
“We had access since the beginning to materials produced by UEFA and the ECA,” said Monaco’s Scuro. “They did a very good job supporting the clubs and helping them to understand the new format. I think internally we are pretty familiar.
“But it’s not only UEFA. Now the clubs and the press have to help to understand this better as soon as possible, because it will be good for people to have fun during the competition.”
(Top photo: Valerio Pennicino – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
