How Will The New Europa League Format Work?
With the new format about to begin for the 2024/25 season, the Europa League, like the Champions League, will get a makeover. The aim is to have much more diverse football matches rather than the old group stage matches, where teams would only play the other teams they were paired with in the group.
UEFA hopes the new changes will bring freshness, which will, in turn, increase football fans’ enthusiasm. So, let’s examine the new format.
Phase 1: League Phase
From this season, the Europa League will be a league phase instead of a group phase. That means all the teams participating in the Europa League will have to compete for a high league finish. There will be 36 teams competing in the Europa League, so it is impossible to play so many matches.
UEFA will draw and pair teams according to their seedings. Each team will play against eight opponents, with four home and four away games. The teams with the most points from these games will top the league standings.
The fixtures will be determined based on seedings, and teams will be paired accordingly. Top-seed teams will have relatively kind fixtures.
Phase 2: Knockout Phase
The top 8 teams from the Phase 1 league table will go directly into the Round of 16. The teams that finish between the 9th and 24th positions will go into a play-off knockout round, where they’ll play each other home and away. Eight more teams from these 16 teams will qualify for the Round of 16. The teams after the 24th position will be eliminated directly.
The round of 16 games, quarter-finals, and semi-finals will all be two-legged affairs. The Final will be played in a neutral venue and will be a single game.
Perks
- As more teams will be participating, one of the critical features of adding more teams was to lower the burden of games on teams participating. So, there will be fewer games for clubs participating in the Europa League.
- A big perk that will remain unchanged is that the winner of the Europa League will get a direct entry to next year’s UEFA Champions League.
- While traditional group stages had a rigid pairing system, with four teams paired in the same group, the new format will allow a bit more diversity in the fixtures, with teams facing off against more opposition, thus adding a bit more intrigue.
So there you have it. Do you like the new format and its eventual perks and consequences?