SENTINELCELTS

Good morning, friends.

During the current World Cup break I thought that it might be interesting to start some debate on the future plans for the Champions League. 

As things stand, season 2023-24* will be the last one with the current ‘8 groups of 4’. We all hope that Celtic will have automatic entry to that and perhaps, finally be given a favourable draw with a chance of securing a second place finish to proceed to the knock out stages. But the question is – will our chances improve any under the new planned set up?

Starting from season 2024-25* UEFA’s plan is to expand the Champions League proper from 32 teams to 36 teams. The current group structure will be done away with and instead there’ll just be one big 36-team league table. So, just what it says on the tin, a Champions League. Now, it’s been a bit of a struggle to find out the official UEFA fine detail on the new format. But from what I’ve been able to gather over the last week or sofrom various reliable(ish) sites, here’s what ole Jobo THINKS the new format will be. And as it makes it easier to explain, can we assume when reading this that Celtic will be included, having won our 3^rd title in a row and possibly gone through a qualifying round or two, still being led by Big Ange.

So, here we are in August 2023, on the morning of the High Noon draw with Jobo’s explanation of what now lies ahead.
1. Although it’s one big league of 36 teams, clearly Celtic can’t play EVERY other team, home and away – a 70 game tournament is a bit of an ask even for Callum McGregor!
2. Instead, today’s draw will split the 36 teams into 4 groups (let’s call them A, B, C and D), each with 9 teams in it.
3. The draw will be seeded with the expectation that all 4 groups will have a similar range of teams based on the usual club co-efficient system. The draw will also, as far as possible, limit the number of teams from any one country to no more than 2 per group.
4. Each Group of 9 will have a couple of the Big Boys, some others that would have previously been regarded as Pot 2/3 under the old system, and a couple of the lower ranked teams.
5. Celtic will be in one of these 9-team sub groups and we will then play all of the other 8 teams. Not home and away, but just once – so we will have 4 home ties and 4 away ties in total. The same format will apply across all 4 Groups. 
6. So, all 36 teams that are in the Champions League will play 8 games, 4 home and 4 away against 8 different opponents. And just like any ‘normal’ domestic league, the big 36-team league table will reflect how teams have done after those 8 games – teams that win 5 or 6 games up near the top, teams losing all games (despite their world class breakfast buffets) down the bottom etc.
7. After everyone has played 8 games, this part of the competition comes to an end and we move on to the knock-out phase. And here’s how qualification works –
8. Firstly, the bad news: the teams that finish 25^th to 36^thare out of Europe completely. A bit similar to teams that finish bottom of their groups under the current set up. 
9. At the other extreme, the Top 8 teams qualify automatically for the Round of 16. The expectation is that Celtic are very unlikely to be in this top group. There’s no guarantee that this will be the best 2 from each of the 4 Groups of 9. It’ll just be the 8 teams with the highest points total from the 8 games that they have played.
10. That leaves the middle batch of tams, those that finish in places 9^th to 24^th in the Big League. These 16 teams will play a home and away “knock out round” with the 8 winners progressing into the last 16. I doubt that this will be an open draw. It’s almost certain that there will be a degree of seeding, probably that teams placed 9^th to 16^th will get a tie against one of those placed 17^thto 24^th .
11. The 8 losers from that knock out round are also then out of Europe. There’s no parachuting down to the Europa or anything. 
12. And I’m pretty sure that the format and set up of both the Europa League and the Europa Conference League will mirror the one for the Champions League.

The pros and cons of the new tournament are open for debate and might only become clear as each season passes. Which of these are positives and which are negatives?
> We will be guaranteed 8 games on the top tournament rather than the current 6
> We will be playing 8 different sides rather than just the 3 at present
> We will visit 4 European away grounds but with no corresponding home leg
> We will entertain 4 different European teams at home so no doubt the ‘package’ will be more expensive than it is just now
> There are 4 potential away trips to consider

For a few years now, many folk have argued that the existing set up had become stale with usually the same old outcomes and same old teams reaching the latter stages. Whether the new set up actually changes that remains to be seen. For me, unless UEFA are really bold and get back to completely open, free for all draws – even if that’s just for the knock out stages – then the so called bigger clubs are likely to continue their stranglehold on the trophy.

Finally, if you think these changes seem radical have you heard what’s planned for the 2026 World Cup? Instead of a 32-team tournament conveniently built around 8 groups of 4, the finals are being expanded to a whopping 48 countries. And the current thinking (not absolutely set in stone yet) is, to me, quite ridiculous –16 groups of 3 with the top 2 progressing from each! To me, the obvious flaw comes with the final game in each group of 3 – easy potential for a complete stitch up if there’s a particular result that would see both of the 2 teams qualifying. But I may write my next guest article on that in 3½ years time!

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Above article by JOBO

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