15ish
Champions League 24/25 | Matchday 1: September 17-19
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Second this. Absolute load of bollocks. Not a fan of this format at all.
Well we're playing Bayern Munich and Juventus at home which is nice.
The new format gives us a far greater chance of getting through but tbh I'd have preferred playing them home and away as in the last format. Let's remember Newcastle were in a group with AC Milan, PSG and Dortmund so not like big clashes early on were impossible in the old format given some decent teams were always in pot 2.
I'm going to do something crazy and watch how it goes before calling it shit, terrible etc. mad I know.
Bayern who you beat in the final when you won it and Juventus who knocked you out in the Quarter final the following season.
Rubbish format won't be paying much attention to it until the knock out stages.
I've actually looked at it.
There will be 189 games overall.
One 36 team group. Each team will play 8 group games, (randomly selected with seeding and the usual UEFA bullshit involved)
There will be 144 group games to eliminate 12 teams.
Top 8 go through to last 16.
9-24 in thr group play off to see who goes through to the last 16 (again seeding etc applies to play off draw)
25-36 are gone from European competition.
From the last 16 onwards, it's the same old 2 legged ties as usual, then the final.
I can see this being like the 2 group stage experiment, it won't last long.
Same here. At least for this season. I'll just watch highlights of upsets and Liverpool losses.
Earlier, it used to be fairly simple to keep a reasonable approximation of all the groups in one's head. This one's the group of death, that one's fairly straightforward, this one has a potential dark horse, etc. This format will take some getting used to.
Don't see why they have to keep expanding the CL with so many players getting injured already. Then there's the new expanded Club World Cup.
They'll have 10 CL group stage games or something silly in the 2030s. 70 games per year.
They'll have 10 CL group stage games or something silly in the 2030s. 70 games per year.
Is there a break in December or do they keep playing all season?
This is so fecking crap. Hope it flops big time, and they change it back next year in time for our return.
They won't because Uefa executives need to wring every penny out of football.
Two extra games in January now hence FA cup replays been scrapped in all rounds.
Piss easy draw for Liverpool that. Should make it though the top 8 easy
The draw was horrendous. So confusing and dull.
And the new format is absolutely diabolical.
And the new format is absolutely diabolical.
The new format is abysmal. The teams are going to share a table with 27 other teams they're not going to play a single game against. And only one game against 8, either home or away. Feck any pretence of fairness.
For some reason it’s only just sunk in what a pointless borefest the CL will be this season. I could barely be bothered watching the group stages with the old format. 100% won’t be watching them this time round. Can someone please let me know when the first knockout game is about to kick off?
So, same as before.
Why would you need to play that many games to eliminate 12 teams?
The CL went downhill when they started with the 32 teams now it's 36, what's next 48?
In my opinion there will be more "big" games and more "bad" games compared to the old format.
For example Bayern is playing PSG and Barca. Games that also someone neutral will watch. But there will be a lot of games that feel like a Europa League pairing (Zagreb vs. Salzburg et al.) that no one will watch but their respective fans.
It's now 160 games until the last 16 starts. 144 group games + 16 games in the 2 legged play off. 160 games to get rid of 20 teams.
Then 29 games in the knockout rounds, to get rid of 15 more and have 1 winner.
We all know the UEFA football formula.
More Games *(quality/quantity) = More money
This new format sounds like a nightmare. Way too over complicated if you ask me.
Let's be honest here, this is nothing more than UEFA trying to control the European Super League narrative. They wanted to be in control of it and not the individual teams that tried to breakaway a few years ago.
Throwing in a knockout stage after the league section is just a smokescreen. It's just a stepping stone to having a full-blown European league that they are in control of.
Let's be honest here, this is nothing more than UEFA trying to control the European Super League narrative. They wanted to be in control of it and not the individual teams that tried to breakaway a few years ago.
Throwing in a knockout stage after the league section is just a smokescreen. It's just a stepping stone to having a full-blown European league that they are in control of.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/aug/29/new-champions-league-format-analysis
Rather than 96 games to eliminate 16 teams, there are 144 to eliminate nine.
Yikes!
Rather than 96 games to eliminate 16 teams, there are 144 to eliminate nine.
Yikes!
I really don’t mind the new format - the old group stage was just so pointless and dull. Also, chances for smaller teams to show up on the biggest stage. Bring it on
Always been that way to an extent with the old group stage depending on who was in which pot and how the draw went exactly I suppose.
From our group last season would there have been many neutrals watching Copenhagen v Galatasaray?
What it does do as well, is if there was a pot 1 v pot 2 team matchup early in the old group phase there's not that much excitement about the rest of the group if you win having to play everyone twice. It's good that it's gone.
Again from our group last season Bayern fans couldn't have found things too exciting having beat us first up, even moreso after winning away in Copenhagen next game. It's almost over at that point.
Winning the first 2 does put you in a great position in the new format too, might only need 3 more points to make the top 24 but at least you're playing someone you haven't already beaten and know you can again if needed. The variety of opoonents is a little more interesting, and not just for the fans of the elite clubs, for the others as well. Playing a team for the second time who you have already comfortbaly lost once to couldn't have been that great either.
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I don't think so. Pot 1 teams are now playing each other during the "group stages" which makes for more interestign pairings. In the old format, you only got that if some team ended up in pot 2. The downside is, that there will be a lot of games among the pot 3 and 4 teams that only a few people will be interested in.
However, that is only my expectation and opinion.
This could've been a brilliant format if they just limited it to the top 8 qualifying to the quarters. Every game would matter then. Now most are pointless. Can't see any big team ever struggling to make it to the knockouts.
There was somewhat a similar idea in the Uefa Cup in the mid 2000's where there were 5 teams, each of them played 2 home games and 2 away and first 3 went through. It was ditched soon enough, can't remember if it went on for 2 or 3 years.
So Uefa's idea now is to play as many pointless games as possible right? Where is the quality and heritage of the Champions League where only the best of the best get to play?
Why dilute the value of the competition so much, people will get bored with hundreds of games each year.
So Uefa's idea now is to play as many pointless games as possible right? Where is the quality and heritage of the Champions League where only the best of the best get to play?
Why dilute the value of the competition so much, people will get bored with hundreds of games each year.
Bah. It's bullshit. My take is either go back to previous format which was perfectly fine, or stop being cowards and do a superleague. This would require fecking off at least the domestic cups, so be it. Also the stuff like uefa supercup and club world cup, but frankly we could do away with those regardless. Domestic supercups too. Supercups are dumb
Fixtures confirmed, interesting that the final round of fixtures are all played at the same time on the same day.
https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsl...bcb1-1000--champions-league-all-the-fixtures/
https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsl...bcb1-1000--champions-league-all-the-fixtures/
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Yeah I guess there's now the danger that some teams could decide to settle for draws knowing they're both through in some circumstances.
Didn’t realise they now have Thursday CL games. So people can no longer take the mik with Thursday night football 
Only first game week, as Europa league starts a week later.Didn’t realise they now have Thursday CL games. So people can no longer take the mik with Thursday night football
Argh fair enough.
Couldn't they just keep the same format? This new system format is messy as hell.
I know there are more teams but couldn't they just do it the same as the Euros, where there are more groups and the best 3rd place teams go through along with the top two? Its better that way.
I know there are more teams but couldn't they just do it the same as the Euros, where there are more groups and the best 3rd place teams go through along with the top two? Its better that way.
The aim was to
1. increase the number of total games so there's more revenue
2. Have more big team vs big team games at the group stage
There is some advantages but the number of games clubs play is already ridiculous, particularly English teams.
The group stage was already awful and felt predictable and pointless, and your fix was to make it even worse?
I’m happy with the change, it desperately needed freshening up.
Matchday 1
New
Yup, this is where I'm at too.
The group stage had become really boring. Maybe you'd get one interesting group of death a year but in many groups it was obvious which teams were advancing and playing for 1st vs 2nd wasn't even that important become often the pool of 2nd place teams wasn't much worse than the pool of 1st place sides and it was all about the luck of the knockout draw anyway.
Now its a wide open free for all with teams playing for a variety of rewards, each of which actually matter (more than finishing first or second in the group used to matter):
1-4 - Advance straight to knockouts and seeded in the knockouts.
5-8 - Advance straight to knockouts.
9-24 - Advance to qualifying round.
25-36 - Go home.
My expectation is that ~90% of clubs will still be playing for something meaningful going into Matchday 7 in January and the majority will still be fighting for something important on Matchday 8.
This hate for the new format is so random. Just look at last year for example:
One group of death and a bunch of foregone conclusions. The biggest upsets probably being Benfica only getting four and Sevilla only getting two points. You'd struggle to find a single top game (on paper) some evenings. Nothing of value was lost here. Some draws are still easier than others, but the big seeding advantage that came from beign in pot 1 or getting one of the teams from Holland or Portugal out of pot 1 is gone too, so it's a more level playing field.
One group of death and a bunch of foregone conclusions. The biggest upsets probably being Benfica only getting four and Sevilla only getting two points. You'd struggle to find a single top game (on paper) some evenings. Nothing of value was lost here. Some draws are still easier than others, but the big seeding advantage that came from beign in pot 1 or getting one of the teams from Holland or Portugal out of pot 1 is gone too, so it's a more level playing field.