The European football governing body, Uefa, has announced the changes that will be made in the Champions League starting next season.
The most important change announced by UEFA's executive committee is the move away from the current group stage system.
Currently, the group stage of the Champions League consists of 32 teams divided into eight groups, where each group consists of four teams.
From the 2024–25 season on, 36 teams will enter the Champions League (formerly the group stage), which will give four more teams the chance to compete with the best teams in Europe.
36 teams will participate in one league in which all the teams will be in the same table.
Under the new system, teams will play eight matches at the new level of the competition (formerly the group stage). They will compete against eight different teams, and they will play half of these games at home and half of them away.
In order to determine the teams that will compete against each other, the teams will first be placed in four pots.
Then each team will be sent out to play against two opponents from each pot, where one game will be played against a team from each pot at home and one away.
The top eight teams in the table will go directly to the round of 16, while the teams that finished in 9th to 24th place will compete in a play-off for the chance to go to the round of 16 in the competition.
Teams that finish 25th or below will be relegated, without a chance to participate in the Europa League.
