The UEFA Champions League looks set for a major shake-up, its first in over a decade, as proposals to use the so-called Swiss system are gathering momentum.
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A report from The Times in the UK states that UEFA officials are favoring a new format which would see each team that qualifies for the Champions League play 10 group games all against different teams.
UEFA will hold talks on the subject this week, as the changes to the format are planned for the 2024 season on.
The current system will run until 2024, but plenty of ideas are being thrown out there to see how they can improve the format and it seems like the main aim at UEFA is for the big teams to play against one another more often.
Why change the format?
The aim is to make the group stage games more competitive, while four games will be added for each team from their current six group games. Four more games for each team means more money from sponsors and broadcasters, so clubs would no doubt sign up for this.
Quite how four games can be added to the schedule for teams remains to be seen, but it will more than likely mean that Champions League group stage games taking place in January and February too.
It is also believed that this model of having 10 games per team will stop some of Europe’s biggest clubs from breaking away from UEFA and starting their own Super League, as reports continue to state could happen.
How could Champions League Swiss system look?
Below is an example of how a group could look using the new seeding system, with more of the big boys drawn against one another in the group stage.
It would mean that every single team has a different path to the knockout rounds and it would freshen up the format which often sees big clubs qualify for the last 16 with two group games to spare.
Used a random draw generator using this season's CL seeds to see the kind of opponents Liverpool and Man City could have had using Swiss system: pic.twitter.com/Jqlf3ntUac
— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) December 1, 2020
Here's a "Swiss system" for the Champions League that has circulated in European football with the group stage effectively replaced by 1 league of 32 teams, although not every team plays each other https://t.co/mbf8ERZ2kH pic.twitter.com/55nqCyIEXs
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) September 9, 2019
