UEFA have disclosed the new format and added a second competition. Suffice to say the big teams are now slightly more likely to go through to the Group stage. 9 direct qualification out of 18, 4 in the Champions Path ( reduced from 7), 5 in the League Path (same n umber as before)
Old version guaranteed 11 nations in the 16-team group stage; new format guarantees 10 nations in the 18-team group stage. Definitely a bit of a small step back, but we'll see how the second-level competition plays out with almost every team not making the CL group stage getting a second chance in the new straight-KO tournament. (Only the 4th-placed teams from the R1 mini-tournaments are eliminated entirely, and that's only for mini-tournaments that even have four teams to start with.) Although they don't give the full details, we can math it out, in theory... ---CL CP has up to 46 teams, with only 8 R2 slots, which honestly doesn't add up - even if no team gets a bye to R2, that's still 12 mini-tournaments, more than 8. I'm guessing, then, that there might even be a preliminary round added before R1 to reduce the number of CL CP teams to 32? If so, that means 16 teams from R1 and 4 teams from R2 would drop to the secondary competition. ---CL LP has 22 teams with 10 R2 slots, meaning 6 byes to R2 and 16 R1 participants. Thus that's 8 teams from R1 and 5 teams from R2 dropping to the secondary competition. ---13 direct qualifiers + 24 CL R1 losers + 9 CL R2 losers = 46 total teams in the secondary competition. If you have just CL-R1 teams play in the secondary R1, that drops to 12 + 13 + 9 = 34? for R2, so not quite right... Maybe 4 of the 13 direct qualifiers also play in R1 to get R2 down to 32?
Yeah I am perplexed about the dropout WCL teams going into the second competition. They need to end up with 32 teams to get to R16 in the new comp.
I think this is a very bad development changing a currently clear system for a confusing obstinate one. While I favoured a big expansion of CL, I think it's way too early for a second separate comp. Unless UEFA is professionalizing all of them at once (way higher prize payments making both comps financially worth it for all clubs and players, full VAR coverage)? Not expecting it.
I think UEFA changed the system under pressure from the big men's club who wanted to guarantee safe passage to their women teams too. Also shoving huge majority of the smaller countries champions to the second tier competition alongside the losers from the league path is not great.
I remember a time in the men's game with the Champions Cup (only league champions), Cupwinners Cup and UEFA Cup. Those were the days. Sad to see the women's game going in the direction of catering for the big clubs in a handful of leagues.
Yep, they used to be called C1, C2 and C3 in France. Nowadays we call the UCL C1, the UEL C3 and the UConfLeague the C4.
Draw on 11 December. Format as follows: Finals draw at 1.20pm CET The finals are played as single-leg knockout matches. No teams will be seeded for the semi-final draw, for which the procedure will be confirmed in due course. For each semi-final pairing, the team drawn first plays the tie at home. The winners of the two semi-finals advance to the final and the defeated teams contest the third-place match. A draw between the semi-final pairings will determine the potential home teams of the final and the third-place match. Promotion/relegation play-offs 1pm CET The four teams finishing third in the League A groups will play off with the four League B group runners-up over two legs to decide further promotions and relegations. Similarly, the three best third-placed teams in the League B groups will play off with the three best League C group runners-up. All ties will be played between 21 and 28 February In both paths, the promotion and relegation ties are determined by means of a draw. The third-placed teams from the higher leagues are seeded for the draw and play their respective second-leg matches at home.
Second competition is said to have six knock-out rounds, making round 1 effectifly a prelim. So any number of clubs from 33 to 64 is fine i guess. Round two will then have 32 teams.
We got clarification with the new access list Both competitions have two qualifying rounds. WCL has one mini-tournament and then two legged games, while the new competition will have twice a two legged tie. It is important to note that the newly formatted access list 2025/26 will be decided at the end of this season 2023/24. And three countries are fighting for the top two spots that give the runner-ups automatc entry to the Group stage (Germany, France and Spain)
Alright, so just trying to spell things out in list form, any single season will look as such, also roughly mapping timing: CL PR: champions from #29-#52, 24 teams -> 6 teams, all losers eliminated CL R1 CP: 6 CL PR winners + champs from #7-#28, 28 teams -> 7 teams, RUs + 3rds to 2C CL R1 LP: RUs from #6-#17 + 3rds from #4-#7, 16 teams -> 4 teams, RUs + 3rds to 2C 2C R1: 7+4 3rds from CL R1 + 7 RUs #18-#24 + 6 3rds #8-#13, 24 teams -> 12 teams, losers eliminated CL R2 CP: 7 CL R1 CP winners + 2C TH, 8 teams -> 4 teams, losers to 2C R2 CL R2 LP: 4 CL R1 LP winners + RUs from #3-#5 + 3rds from #1-#4, 10 teams -> 5 teams, losers to 2C R2 2C R2: 4+5 CL R2 losers + 7+4 RUs from CL R1 + 12 2C R1 winners, 32 teams -> 16 teams CL GP: 4+5 CL R2 winners + CL TH + champs from #1-#6 + RUs from #1-#2, 18 teams -> 8 teams ((6 MDs, Swiss-style)) 2C R16: 16 2C R2 winners, 16 teams -> 8 teams At this point, both comps are down to the QFs, though the 2C might be one or two matchdays ahead of the CL itself since the CL GP takes 6 matchdays while the 2C R2+R16 will only need 4 matchdays. It does make me wonder how the access list will get adjusted for the 2C TH since it's almost certain they would have qualified for the CL otherwise. (I'm not familiar with how the men do it, I don't follow the UMCL that much.)
Just realized I got this underlined part *totally* wrong since I apparently skimmed over the appropriate part in Monday's presser. It's not Swiss-style since the six opponents are predetermined based on a pot structure, plus it's 12 teams through, four straight to the QFs and eight in a play-off
As an example, if we look at the access list and the current UEFA association as of today 20 December We would get the following in 2025/26: Direct qualification for the group stage: Title holder, France play-offs winner, France play-offs runner-up, Germany winner, Germany runner-up, Spain, England, Italy and Portugal winner. Champions path: 4 teams qualify for the Group Stage QR2 the winner of the second competition in the previous season so no-one QR1 Sweden to Poland champions PR Croatia to Armenia champions League path : 5 teams qualify for the Group stage QR2: France play-off third placed, Germany third placed, Spain third, placed, Spain, runner-up, England runner-up, Italy runner-up QR1: England third place, Italy third place, Portugal third place, Sweden third place, Portugal runner-up up to Kazakhstan runner-up.
Now we know what is happening for the access list Direct qualification for the League Stage: Title holder France play-offs winner, France play-offs runner-up, Germany League winner, Germany League runner-up, Spain League winner, England League winner, Portugal League winner Italy League winner
We will know when UEFA publishes the regulations, my guess in the 7th ranked country's (Sweden) champion will access directly to the League stage.
it 's not because i like OL women that i think Bompastor is always right, whether about his tactical choices or his football opinions
The FFF has now changed the WCL qualifying mode for the new Arkema Premiere League from 2024/25 and it impacts the WCL 2025/26. This was requested by UEFA Direct qualification for the League Stage: Title holder France League winners, France League runner-up, Germany League winner, Germany League runner-up, Spain League winner, England League winner, Portugal League winner Italy League winner The play-off winners in France will win the title and the third WCL place that enters in the League path Round 2.
I was wrong the FFF went full on qualification via the regular season, the top 3 teams qualify directly independently from the play-offs. Technically the French champion could end up not qualifying for the Champions League...
Format change with the new access list: UEFA have updated the access list for the UWCL new format for 2025/26 with the introduction of a Q3 for the Champions path and the League path. pic.twitter.com/Ro3FxuWJN2— Sylvain Jamet (@S_Jamet) September 28, 2024 Extra qualifying round to play now to go through to the League stage. And France qualifying teams has changed again. It is now official 1. Play-offs winner 2. Regular season winner both go direct to the League stage. 3. Regular season runner-up.