The new format will feature a league phase instead of a group phase. Eight groups of four will be abolished and all participating clubs will be crammed together at one large table. The format is based on the Swiss system in chess and does not require each team to play against all the others.
The number of participating teams increases by four to 36, with each participant now playing eight games in the first phase instead of the previous six. However, instead of just playing against three different opponents twice, home and away, the teams will play against a different team in each game.
In total, there will be 189 games in the actual competition, which will culminate in the final in Munich on May 31st; so far there have been 125.
UEFA hopes the new format will lead to more exciting fixtures from the start, with bigger games earlier in the tournament because the teams in pot one (the big names) will play each other earlier, rather than remaining largely separate until the knockout stages in February and March as in the previous format. It will also give the teams in pot four more opportunities to gain points because they will play two other teams from that pot in their eight matches.
After the conclusion of the league phase, which will now last until the end of January, the top eight teams in the table will qualify directly for a 16-team knockout round. The other eight places will be decided in a newly introduced series of home and away play-offs involving the teams that finish between 9th and 24th in the league.
From the round of 16 onwards there will be a seeding, so the first and second placed teams of the league phase can only compete against each other in the final.
This season’s list of participants will be completed tonight, with four clubs having earned their places in the last of seven pre-tournament playoffs.
