The new big reform of the Champions League is stronger or more water[weirushui]
2024-08-29
2024-25 season of the European Champions League 36 and all generated, tomorrow morning from 0 o 'clock, the first stage of the Champions League draw ceremony will be carried out in Monaco, which is the first draw after the big reform of the Champions League, particularly interesting.
The new Champions League
The Champions League has undergone a new major restructuring from this season, and the change in the competition system can be said to be subversive, and the previous first stage of the "group stage" has no longer become the "association system" of the princes.
Look at the specific situation of the new competition system:
(1) The 36 participating teams are no longer grouped, but are all organized into the same score table, which is like a big league;
(2) 36 teams are divided into 4 files, each file 9 teams (basically can be regarded as four strength grades). Each team should draw 2 opponents from each of these 4 files, a total of 8 opponents, for 4 main 4 guest (home and away draw decision) showdown;
(3) After playing all 8 rounds, the first to the eighth of the 36 teams will directly advance to the knockout round of 16;
(4) A total of 8 teams ranked 9th to 16th in the standings, and 8 teams ranked 17th to 24th for a play-off match (home and away) to determine the other 8 seats in the top 16.
(5) The elimination system of the Round of 16 and beyond will remain unchanged.
At present, the four stages of the Champions League 36 have all been produced:
First class: Manchester City, Bayern, Real Madrid, Paris, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Leipzig, Barcelona;
Second tier: Leverkusen, Atletico, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan;
Third tier: Feyenoord, Sporting Portugal, PSV Eindhoven, Dinamo Zagreb, Red Bull Salzburg, Lille, Red Star Belgrade, Young Bern, Celtic;
Fourth tier: Bratislava, Monaco, Sparta Prague, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Graz Storm, Brest.
Take Manchester City as the first point of view, for example:
Draw two opponents from first gear, assuming Real Madrid and Bayern;
Draw AC Milan and Brugge from second gear;
PSV Eindhoven and Sporting Portugal in third gear;
Monaco and Graz storm in fourth gear.
In this way, Manchester City's eight matches in the first stage of the Champions League could be Real Madrid (main), Bayern (guest), AC Milan (main), Bruges (guest), PSV Eindhoven (main), Sporting Portugal (guest), Monaco (main), Graz (guest). (Competition order and time will be determined separately)
After playing these eight rounds, see where Manchester City can rank in the 36-team table, thus determining the prospect of advancing to the knockout stage.
It should be added here that some principles are still followed when drawing lots:
Teams from the same country do not meet; Each team draws 8 opponents, the same country maximum 2 teams; Two opponents drawn from the same grade, the venue is arranged according to a host and a guest...
As a result, the various branches of the draw of the possibility of geometric growth, if the manual to draw, UEFA needs to prepare more than 1000 draw balls enough, the draw ceremony may take several hours, which is of course unrealistic, the final solution is to manually draw the team, and then to the computer software to match the opponent.
AELive, the company behind the draw, said it had prepared for the computer draw, including dealing with a "hack" that could disrupt the draw, as it did during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
What will the overhaul bring
The intuitive impact of the new major reform of the European League is that the number of matches has greatly increased:
The total number of matches in the single Champions League will be increased from 125 to 189, an increase of 64 matches.
The champions used to play 13 games to win the title, but now they have to play at least 15 games, or 17 games in total if they qualify for the last 16 through the MLS League play-offs.
The schedule will also be longer, in the past, the Champions League group stage can be played at the end of the first year, and the knockout stage will be started in March of the next year, and the middle will be off for more than two months;
But under the new format, the first phase of the 36-team league will not be played until the end of January, followed by a play-off in February and then a knockout round, which means there will be Champions League matches throughout the season.
More games, more money.
Box office, broadcast, peripheral income, will increase with the match, UEFA further earned a pot of money.
Accordingly, the teams' Champions League bonuses will also be significantly increased. The 36 participating teams will receive a minimum guaranteed bonus income of 18.2 million euros (previously 15.5 million euros).
In addition, ranking prize money and elimination prize money will be increased.
From 36th place to champion, the prize money ranges from 275,000 euros to 10 million euros;
There is an additional €2 million helicopter prize for the top eight players in the Major League, and $1 million each for the 9th through 16th.
Plus the knockout prize money, 11 million euros into the top 16, 12.5 million euros into the top 8, 15 million into the semifinals, 18.5 million into the final, the champion gets another 6.5 million... The bonus is up 20 percent from the previous year.
For fans, the reformed Champions League is full of freshness.
In the past, the first stage of the group stage played a maximum of three opponents, now it has become eight, and ensure that there are at least two strong teams, both strong dialogue, and the game does not bring the same.
he topic has also increased greatly.
36 team standings, you not only have to pay attention to their own team and direct opponents, but also to see the team ranking close to you in the standings, in the past, you only have to pay attention to the points of your team's group, and now it is 36 team through to see, all games may be closely related to your team's ranking, this strong correlation, obviously will bring more sustained and extensive attention.
Overall, the Champions League reform, UEFA and the owners of the clubs are happy to make money, the fans are happy to watch football.
The only people who will complain may be coaches and players, there are too many games, the schedule is more intensive, the fatigue of players and the probability of injury increases, and the inner sentence "we are not cows and horses, we are people" will probably shout louder.
How does the effect of the reform turn over to the historical review
Looking back at the several reforms in the history of the European League, it can be said that this year's movement is very large, no less than several major reform nodes in history.
From its inception in the 1955-56 season, the competition was called the European Champions Cup, which was a knockout cup competition, starting from the first round.
In the 1992-93 season, the Champions League ushered in the reform, the introduction of the group competition system, specifically: the first three rounds of elimination, the final promotion of the eight teams into two groups, each group of four teams home and away round-robin, the first two groups into the final final.
Thus, the European "Champions League" evolved into the "Champions League".
At the end of the 1990s, the Champions League format changed year after year.
For the 1997-98 season, the Champions League was expanded from being restricted to the champions of national leagues to include the runners-up from the top eight European leagues.
This allows more strong teams and excellent players to participate in the Champions League, avoiding the past "Maradona" regret: strong as the old horse, his life has only participated in two Champions League, because in the small World Cup era of Serie A, it is not easy to win the championship.