How the new Champions League format could affect the likes of Man Utd, Man City and more

Manchester City have already secured their place in next season’s Champions League and they will hope to compete as holders as they prepare to face Real Madrid in the second leg of their semi-final clash on Wednesday night.

Cross-city rivals Manchester United are still in contention to join Europe’s elite once again as they compete with Newcastle United, Liverpool and Brighton and Hove Albion for a top four place in the Premier League with the season now entering a nerve-racking final ten days.

Should United join City and qualify for next season’s Champions League, the two sides will compete in the competition in its current format for the final time after UEFA announced significant changes to its setup that will be introduced in time for the 2024/25 campaign.

Europe’s premier competition will now consist of 36 teams – four more than it does at present – who will all be grouped together in a single league phase, rather than in the groups of four that we’re accustomed to. Each side will play eight games – four home and four away - with the top eight from the league table these games produce going through to the knockout stages, and the next sixteen competing in an extra play-off round to make it through to the round of 16. The bottom eight will be knocked out, and both the Europa League and Europa Conference League will follow the same format.

Sadly for clubs outside of the major leagues in Europe, only one of those extra four clubs will come via the qualification phase and further additional slot will be offered to a team from the country lying in fifth place in UEFA’s national association ranking. The two remaining spaces will be given each year to an extra team from the two countries who post the best combined finish in UEFA competitions – if the format change was taking place next year it would mean the fifth-placed team in the Premier League would qualify, alongside another club from the Netherlands.

Speaking about the new format, which seems to serve the major leagues in Europe rather that benefitting clubs around the continent, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said: “UEFA has clearly shown today that we are fully committed to respecting the fundamental values of sport and to defending the key principle of open competitions, with qualification based on sporting merit, fully in line with the values and solidarity-based European sports model.”