Champions League is an iconic competition, arguably one of the most significant in European football history. Since its creation in 1955, it has matured into a sturdy youngster, still growing and changing with the times. It has become the pinnacle of European club football, and as such, it is no surprise that fans want to see their clubs advance as far as possible in the competition each season.
The current system involves teams qualifying for the group stage, based on their national league finishing position and association coefficient. The higher an association’s coefficient, the fewer qualifying rounds they must compete in. The group stage itself features a double round-robin format, with teams playing each other twice, once home and once away. Teams earn three points for a win, two for a draw and zero for a loss.
After the group stage, the top eight teams automatically qualify for the knockout phase. The other 16 teams qualify through a play-off round, and the winners will progress to the last 16.
In the knockout phase, all matches are played in a two-legged fashion. The ties are determined by a draw, which also lays out the route for each team to reach the final.
With the league phase bringing more sporting incentive into the tournament, and a desire to create better synergy between the group and knockout phases of the competition, UEFA has introduced changes beginning with the 2024-25 season. Specifically, the number of games in the group phase has been increased to eight midweek matches, which will allow a single competition to take up 10 weeks on the European calendar.
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