Football fans slam 'boring' new Champions League format

Atalanta draw Arsenal (red jersey) 0-0 in the first round of Champions League group stage on Sept. 19, 2024. Photo by Reuters

"Watching the two strongest teams in England played in the past two days and they both bored me to death. That's new Champions League for you," one fan wrote on X after the opening round of the Champions League group stage last week.

According to another fan, the new format really ruins the fun, as teams are not playing at their best when they know there are many more matches to go. One fan mocked UEFA's claim that the new format will make the Champions League more attractive.

"It's great to see the new Champions League format is as bad as we expected. Absolutely rubbish," wrote another fan on X.

From the 2024-2025 season, the Champions League will be played in a 36-team group format, instead of 32 teams divided into eight groups of four as before. Each team will play eight different opponents, with four home games and four away games. After eight rounds, the top eight teams will advance directly to the round of 16. The teams ranked from 9th to 24th will have to enter a playoff for the remaining eight slots.

According to the majority of fans, the fact that only the bottom 12 teams are eliminated, equivalent to a third of the participating teams, is the main reason why the Champions League group stage has become boring so soon. The old format was more attractive because half of the teams would be eliminated after the group stage. In addition, the fact that teams have eight matches to qualify for the top 8 or top 24, is too comfortable, which gave them the mentality of not giving it all from the start.

The new format also significantly increases the number of matches. If a team reach the final, they will play a total of 17 matches, a four-match increase compared to the old format. Many big names in contemporary football, such as coach Carlo Ancelotti or goalkeeper Allison Becker, have spoken out against it. Some players have even hinted that they might go on strike.

On the opening round of the group stage, the two top English teams, Man City and Arsenal, drew 0-0 with Inter and Atalanta. In Spain, Barcelona lost 1-2 to Monaco while Real Madrid beat Stuttgart 3-1. However, the first round also witnessed some big wins, with Bayern Munich crushing Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 and Celtic beating Slovan Bratislava 5-1.

The second round will take place on Oct. 1 and 2. The most anticipated match in this round is Arsenal vs PSG.

UEFA changed the Champions League format under pressure from the Super League, a tournament founded by the top football clubs in 2020. According to the plan, this tournament would only include the top teams from the five major European football leagues. In the face of opposition from fans and the government, most members later withdrew from the tournament.