"A more varied, more unpredictable tournament, with more significant matches and more top matches."
This is the objective that UEFA has set itself with the reform of the Champions League and European cups in general, which will start next season and which was explored in depth during a media briefing in Milan.
The protagonist was the deputy general secretary of UEFA, Giorgio Marchetti, who went into detail about the many new features.
"The perfect format doesn't exist, but we tried to get as close as possible", his words.
News that could lead to even having eleven teams from the same country in the cups.
In particular, looking at Serie A, the top four ranked in the league could play in the next Champions League, the fifth ranked if Italy were to be among the best two in the seasonal ranking and the eventual winners of the Champions League and Europa League if they were to finish out of the cup positions.
To these could be added three teams qualified for the Europa League - the sixth in the league table, the winner of the Italian Cup and the eventual winner of the Conference League outside the European rankings - and a team qualified in the Conference League via the championship, for a total therefore of eleven teams.
Returning to the structure of the cups, UEFA began thinking about the reform in 2018, with the need for change linked in particular to the objective of livening up the group stage, offering more significant matches and more top matches, creating a tournament with greater attraction.
The format will therefore be expanded to 36 teams for each of the three competitions and above all the farewell to the group stage which has characterized the Champions League since 1991.
In fact, there will be a single ranking, with each team facing eight different opponents in the first phase: the top eight in the ranking will qualify directly for the round of 16, from ninth to twenty-fourth they will play a playoff round with the winners going to the round of 16, while from the twenty-fifth downwards they will be definitively eliminated (without "relegating" to the Europa League as has happened in recent years).
In the event of an equal number of points between two teams, the criterion of direct clash will no longer decide (since not all clubs will face each other), but rather that of goal difference as the first discriminating factor.
The format of the direct elimination phase will then be in a tennis-style draw with seeding based on ranking, but will still remain an element of draw.
There is also news on the calendar, with the first phase which will end in January and with the first round which will be played in an "exclusive week" (the Champions League will play on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday while the other two competitions will not be played), as well as on the times: the last day will in fact be played with 18 matches at the same time.
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