Liverpool have formally certified for subsequent season’s Champions League, however it should look quite a bit totally different to their final expertise within the competitors.
The Reds have mathematically certified for the highest 4, that means they’re again eating at Europe’s high desk after a season out.
It’s a main enhance for the membership and the incoming supervisor, who would be the first man after Jurgen Klopp to steer Liverpool within the Champions League since 2014/15.
UEFA have sought to alter the format from subsequent season, you may guess why, and so right here’s all it is advisable to know concerning the adjustments.
The ‘league part’
From 2024/25, the variety of golf equipment will rise from 32 to 36 within the ‘league part’ (former group stage), with every workforce enjoying eight video games within the preliminary stage.
Groups shall be ranked in 4 seeding pots, and every membership shall be drawn to play two opponents from every of those pots, basically creating 4 teams of 9.
The seeding for these pots are decided solely by a membership’s UEFA coefficient.
The groups will, nonetheless, be ranked in a single desk to find out who progresses to the knockout levels.
Half the video games shall be performed at dwelling and the opposite half away, with no repeat fixtures – and the ultimate standings will decide who progresses.
UEFA opted for this route to extend the variety of aggressive video games on the earliest alternative.
Knockout levels
The outcomes of every ‘league part’ match will resolve the general rating, with the highest eight sides routinely qualifying for the spherical of 16.
Groups who end ninth to twenty fourth will compete in a two-legged knock-out part play-off to safe a spot within the final 16.
And eventually, those that end twenty fifth or decrease shall be eradicated and won’t drop down into the Europa League, as now we have been accustomed to.
Within the playoff, groups who completed between ninth and sixteenth shall be seeded and can face a workforce positioned seventeenth to twenty fourth with the return leg at dwelling.
Those that prevail will meet one of many top-eight finishers within the final 16, who shall be seeded for this tie.
From the spherical of 16 onwards, the competitors will revert to its present format as much as and together with the ultimate.
On this new format, a workforce may play a possible 17 video games on the way in which to the ultimate, compared to the utmost of 13 within the present format.
Key dates
With a rise within the variety of video games, there are just a few extra dates to be aware of subsequent season relating to attracts and fixtures:
League draw – August 29
Matchday 1: September 17-19
Matchday 2: October 1/2
Matchday 3: October 22/23
Matchday 4: November 5/6
Matchday 5: November 26/27
Matchday 6: December 10/11
Matchday 7: January 21/22
Matchday 8: January 29
Play-off draw – January 31
Knockout play-offs: February 11/12 and 18/19
Final 16/quarter-final/semi-final draw – February 21
Final 16: March 4/5 and 11/12
Quarter-final: April 8/9 and 15/16
Semi-final: April 29/30 and Might 6/7
Closing: Might 31 (Munich)
