Europa League and Conference League from the 2024/25 season and is creating a great challenge for Greek teams.
In the shadow of the national team’s exclusion from the Euro 2024 finals, an extremely interesting information day was held on Tuesday in Athens by UEFA regarding the format of its interclub competitions for the 2024-25 season. Because from September everything changes in the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League and the Europa Conference League.
UEFA’s main directors presented all the changes in detail and resolved all the issues in two meetings they held (one with representatives of the Super League teams and the other with representatives of the Greek media).
In the presence of general secretary Theodoros Theodoridis, UEFA deputy general secretary and director of football Giorgio Marchetti, director of interclub events Tobias Hendchuk, director of strategic development of interclub events Stefan Anselmos and consultant Confederation media officer, Andreas Dimatos, answered all questions and, most importantly, gave everyone present the opportunity to understand how great the opportunity is for Greek football to “build” this year’s extremely productive season in European competitions , but also to take advantage of the innovations of the new format.
But what are the most important differences and what major benefits can Greek football achieve? Let’s list them one by one through our own “blue and white” prism:
More teams in the first phase, more opportunities for Greece too
By abolishing the group stage that has been with us for 32 years and by establishing a uniform result in the three competitions, UEFA increases by a total of 12 the number of teams that will participate after the summer qualifiers in the Champions League, Europa League and UEFA Champions League. Europa Conference.
Until this year 32 teams participated in the group stage (96 in total in the three cups) from September there will be 36 (108 in total).
How will the 12 extra tickets be distributed?
1) In the Champions League, it is awarded to the team from the country that occupies 5th place in the UEFA rankings. The second and third will be won by the teams with the best overall ranking of their teams from the previous season (meaning almost every season will end in England, Spain, Italy, Germany). And the fourth (related to the current champion of Greece) will be given to the path of champions. Until today the number of champions who qualified for the groups was 4, now there are 5.
2) In the Europa League, an extra ticket will be awarded to the teams that will be excluded from the champions’ path in the Champions League, one to the country that is in 7th position in the UEFA rankings and two more to the teams that will qualify in the qualifiers in August.
3) In the Conference League, two extra tickets will be given to teams that will be eliminated from the Europa League qualifiers and another two to teams that qualify in the August qualifiers.
The Europa League also becomes accessible to Greek teams.
And here we come to the great benefit that Greek teams can obtain, if, of course, they take advantage of the new conditions for holding European cups.
With the current data, apart from the Champions League and the Europa League, it seemed prohibitive for Greek excesses. This is because after the conclusion of the group stage, the passage of eight teams from the Champions League to the Europa League (among which there were also 2 teams from the European elite leagues almost every season) increased the level of difficulty of the competition.
One of UEFA’s great innovations is not to transfer teams from one competition to another mid-season (teams will only be “promoted” during the summer qualifiers. What does this mean?
That teams participating in the first phase of the Champions League will be able to claim European distinction ONLY in the Champions League. The same in the Europa League, the same in the Europa Conference League. With the new system for holding its interclub competitions, UEFA essentially rewards the “powerful” European football players in the Champions League with large bonuses and makes both Europe and the Europa Conference League more “open” for teams from the second and second leagues. . .third gear, like the Greek.
Greek place also guaranteed in the Europa League
The increase in teams in the first phase of the Europa League, however, brings an additional benefit to our country. Until the 2023/24 season, only countries ranked up to 15th in the UEFA rankings and, of course, any teams (even from other countries) that reached the groups excluded from the Champions League qualifiers were guaranteed representation in the competition. Now, however, the countries’ representation in the Europa League “opens” to 33rd position in the UEFA rankings. For this reason, although next year we will once again have only four European tickets, one will give access to the Europa League qualifiers and not the Europa Conference League.
More points opportunities in all events
Another extremely important innovation (which most affects the Champions League and the Europa League) is that teams will now be drawn in a guaranteed manner and with teams of their own capacity. What do we know so far? That teams in the same pot cannot be tied with each other. Forget…
The new format of the draws (which will now be carried out electronically) will have the following rules.
Champions League and Europa League: The 36 teams are divided into 4 capacity groups of 9 teams. Each team will play 8 matches in the first phase (4 home/4 away). Two of your opponents will come from the same ability group and the other six opponents will come in pairs from the other groups.
For example, if the champion of Greece is in the 4th ability group, he will play:
1. Two games (one at home and one away) with teams from the 1st group.
2. Two games (one at home and one away) with teams from the 2nd group.
3. Two games (one at home and one away) with teams from the 3rd group.
4. Two matches (one at home and one away) with teams from the 4th group.
It is automatically understood that Greek teams will have the opportunity to score more points in their games (since they will now also face their own “cubic” opponents), thus more possibilities to improve our overall national ranking in the UEFA standings.
Europa Conference League: The 36 teams are divided into 6 capacity groups of 6 teams. In the first phase, each team will play 6 matches (3 at home and 3 away) against a representative from each capacity group.
What does the knockout bracket mean?
Another important change concerns the format of the qualifying draw after the end of the first phase. Until today we knew that there were “strong” and “weak” players up to the round of 16 and from the quarter-finals onwards, draws were unlimited.
Now the system is changing completely. In the qualifiers, essentially a bracket (“net”) similar to that which exists in major professional tennis tournaments applies.
This means that the teams that finish in 1st and 2nd place in the three competitions will not be able to face each other until the final.
The specific system will help Greek teams (mainly in the Europa Conference League, but now also in the Europa League) to pursue “historical excesses” with greater demands, as long as they manage to finish in the highest positions in the standings at the end of the first phase. A completely realistic and achievable goal. The higher they finish after completing the 8 or 6 matches they will have, the more viable their path to the final will be.
The financial benefits of Greek national teams
In addition to the competitive benefits, the financial profits of Greek teams are multiplied, not just those participating in European competitions. To understand the new financial data for the UEFA cups, until this year the value attributed to teams that did not participate in their interclub competitions amounted to 177 million euros. From next year, it will rise to 308 million euros!
It is, therefore, easy to see that the new format of the Champions League and especially the Europa League and the Europa Conference League seems like a “golden” opportunity for Greek football. As UEFA general secretary Theodoros Theodoridis highlighted in his greeting to representatives of the Greek teams and the media: “It is a great opportunity for Greece”.
Source: themasports.tothemaonline