By Matija Šerić
In the Champions League final at the Allianz Arena in Munich on May 31st, PSG astonishingly thrashed Inter 5-0 and thus won their first title in Europe’s most prestigious football competition. This is the first European trophy that the Parisian club has won in its rich history. It took PSG 14 long years to win the Champions League since it was bought by wealthy Qatari owners. However, the question remains: would Paris Saint-Germain have won the Champions League this year at all if the old competition format had still been in place?
After the completion of the first full season, the impressions have settled, and conclusions can be drawn about the new format. Although journalists and so-called “expert public” are loudly convincing us (as if the audience can’t understand it on their own) that the new format is a perfect hit and exactly what (European) football needed, if we apply an objective approach, we come to diametrically opposite conclusions. The new Champions League format is unnecessary, flawed, incomplete, and confusing. In short – a total failure.
Changes in the Competition
The changes introduced might not seem revolutionary at first glance, but they have fundamentally altered the competition. The number of teams has been expanded from 32 to 36. Clubs are no longer divided into eight groups of four teams in the first part of the season but instead form a mini-league – the Swiss model. The number of matches in the first phase has increased from six to eight. There are no return legs. The top eight clubs qualify directly for the Round of 16, while clubs from 9th to 24th place play a playoff round to fill the remaining eight spots. Clubs ranked from 25th to 36th are eliminated with no right to continue in the Europa League. From the Round of 16 onwards, the system remains the same as before. Previously, clubs could play a maximum of 13 matches to reach the final, while now that number has increased to at least 15 or at most 17.
Too Many Matches
The main criticism of the new system is the excessive number of matches. Footballers were already overburdened with the large number of games in national leagues (36–38), not to mention domestic cups (sometimes even super cups) and international duties. Increasing the number of European matches was not a wise idea from a competitive standpoint. Players get more fatigued, expend physical and mental energy, are exposed to burnout, and cannot perform at their best. On the other hand, some players may deliberately play weaker matches in the Champions League knowing a challenging league derby awaits them over the weekend. There is always a chance to make up for a draw or loss because the number of matches in the league phase has increased. This reduces competitiveness and the quality of football. Due to the congested calendar, players are getting injured – and that’s the worst part.
Huge Number of Injuries
During the past season, several top players suffered severe injuries. Rodri was injured in late September 2024 during a match between Manchester City and Arsenal and did not return until the penultimate game of the season in May against Bournemouth, where he came off the bench. Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen was also out from September to May. In March this year, Bayern full-back Alphonso Davies was injured and missed the rest of the season. Other major injuries included Real’s Dani Carvajal, Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães, Real midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, Arsenal’s Martin Ødegaard, and City’s Kevin de Bruyne, among many others.
It would be unfair to blame the crowded football calendar solely for all these injuries, but with each additional match, the risk increases. This is something physiotherapists and sports medicine doctors should be publicly speaking about. Modern football is a high-intensity sport with many hard physical duels and rapid changes of direction, which put strain on muscles, joints, and ligaments, leaving less time for proper recovery and injury prevention.
Unclear Format
The Champions League format in its league phase is very complex, making it hard for average viewers to understand which club is performing well or poorly. What, for example, does it mean if clubs ranked between 8th and 14th are separated by just one point after five matches? It’s unclear how many points are needed to advance. The system for ranking clubs with equal points is interesting: goal difference, goals scored, away goals, wins, away wins, etc. After eight rounds, several clubs had the same number of points. Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, and Aston Villa all had 16 points and were placed from 6th to 8th based on a one- or two-goal difference.
Things were especially dramatic from 22nd to 25th place, where Manchester City, Sporting, Club Brugge, and Dinamo Zagreb all had 11 points but different goal differences. Intriguingly, some clubs (e.g., Dinamo) played their final matches against teams (e.g., Milan) that had already qualified for the knockout stage, making those games meaningless for the latter. While in the old format teams sometimes secured qualification one or two rounds early, the new system complicates everything. The last two rounds are prone to manipulation, raising suspicions of match-fixing. Clubs already qualified could “gift” a win to a weaker competitor to eliminate a rival. For instance, top-ranked Liverpool lost their final match to PSV 3-2.
No Return Legs
Any competition without return legs is inherently flawed – except, of course, for the final. The Champions League hasn’t yet faced major issues with this, but unfortunately, due to UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin’s experiment, the lack of return matches has already shown its negative effects. A league system without return legs increases the impact of randomness, home advantage, and daily form, undermining sporting fairness which return matches would guarantee.
Favouring Big Clubs
The new format is unbalanced: it favours established clubs from the top five leagues over smaller clubs from Eastern, Northern, or Southern Europe. Big clubs like Real Madrid, Liverpool, and Bayern have been given easier schedules compared to clubs like Celtic, Monaco, or Feyenoord. For example, Real played Atalanta, Red Bull Salzburg, and Brest in their final three matches, while Sparta Prague had to face Feyenoord, Inter, and Bayer. Some may call it a random draw, but it’s evident that big clubs are accommodated with easier opponents in later rounds to allow recovery if they falter early.
An excellent example is this year’s champion. Had the old format with four-team groups remained, it’s highly questionable whether PSG would have even advanced to the knockout stage. In the first round, PSG beat Girona 1-0, then lost to Arsenal 2-0, drew with PSV 1-1, lost to Atletico Madrid 2-1, and Bayern 1-0. After five rounds, PSG had just 4 points and were on the verge of elimination! Under the old system, they certainly would’ve been knocked out. However, in the last three matches, they “coincidentally” faced two weaker opponents and won: Red Bull Salzburg (3-0) and VfB Stuttgart (4-1). PSG also beat Man City 4-2 and snuck into the playoffs with 13 points.
Derbies Lose Their Charm
The creators of the new Champions League format do not hide their intention to increase the number of matches between big clubs. In doing so, they catered to the giants at the expense of the smaller ones and created a de facto European Super League – just not in name. Previously, matches like Real vs. Liverpool, Barcelona vs. Bayern, or Juventus vs. Man City were mostly seen in the knockout stages. Now there’s a big clash nearly every round. It’s well known that if something is repeated too often, it loses its charm and uniqueness. There’s no doubt that over time these major derbies will become stale. The oversaturation of mega matches will eventually lead to viewer fatigue.
Football Stagnation
Fans are the last factor UEFA cares about. The European football association is primarily concerned with itself and its profits, followed by the earnings of sponsors, partners, and clubs, while players and spectators come last. Viewers are given a product that appears very attractive at first glance, but a deeper look at the new Champions League format reveals its flaws. It is full of repetitive fixtures, many of which are boring, with no significant improvement in the quality of play, injuries are rampant, big clubs stay big, and small clubs remain small. Competitiveness and the essence of football have been significantly set back, especially in the first phase of the competition.
The final rounds were exciting, but that does not excuse the shortcomings of the Champions League up to the Round of 16. The old competition system could certainly have been improved, but in different ways than those chosen by Čeferin and company. UEFA earns more money with the new system, and that’s all that matters. However, it’s only a matter of time before a player suffers a fatal injury – or something even worse happens – because the human body cannot withstand 60+ matches in a season.
