I really don't like that they have a fixed path for the teams in the last rounds... Watching an icon of the sport drawing your club and it's next opponant was always a cool event.

So, they have done this system in rugby's European cup for the last few years and it heavily, heavily benefits the top teams even more than the previous system. This'll probably result in far less of smaller teams having a good run.

Backdoor leading to that European Super League 😑

My understanding is during the league stage they want the top teams to play each other to generate more interest and money. But I assume the league stage will seeded in some way so allow the top teams to play couple of games against each other then play lower ranked teams to enable them to qualify.

Everyone inherently hate changes to things they love. I will be patient and wait for it to play out.

4 Groups of 9 playing each Team once so 4 Home and 4 Away games. Top 2 Qualify. Next 4 to Play-Offs. Bottom 3 Out. That is so obviously more competitive and easier to follow - Are UEFA blind?

I do get the skepticism, and it's definitely true that UEFA is doing this to make more money, any improvement to the viewers/clubs will be incidental. However, these changes sound pretty cool tbh. If it turns out this sucks, I hope there is a willingness to undo the changes in 5 years or so, but I'm hopeful that it will improve the Champions League's entertainment value.

European Cup - Only Champions need apply Champions League - Come join even if you finished fourth.

I just watched a video about how the Premier League is broken, meaning since they have no restrictions on who can own the teams and how much money they spend on players, most of the top players in the world play on that league and now that you mentioned we could have so many Premier League teams, everything starts to make sense... They definitely need to start regulating that league, stuff is getting out of hand IMO.

People will lose interest with so many games

Thank you for the very helpful breakdown!

TV money really has killed football 😢

Rugby's European Cup tried this format (more or less) and is slowly walking it back due to everyone hating it.

This was a great explainer. Thanks.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - Not UEFA

Great Video! I've got 2 questions to the draw you showed at about 6 minutes. 1. Why stands on left hand side (1/2) and on the right hand side (2/1). Ist not the winner of the league stage on the left hand side and the runner up on the right hand side? 2. I am not able to read the numbers of the kick off round. I guess in the green box on the left hand is (15/16) and in the white box next to the green box (23/24). Is it true? Thankyou:)

Actually like the idea of getting rid of home and away group stage matches and instead have a team playing 8 different opponents and 4 different away grounds. That’s gonna be lit 🔥

Great video bro broke it down well

Would they change the squad sizes to account for the extra games?

Through all these changes which the players do not have say, The players suffer the most especially the ones who play for top teams because of the high amount of games played across the season including national team matches (Nations League! and Qualifiers) and also the new 32 team expanded Club World Cup which is coming in 2025, The potential for serious injuries grows higher even though they will get PAID very well.

So I think I understand how it works, but it still feels so odd to have a "league table" where teams don't actually play all the others. How do they pick the random opponents for the teams? 🤔

Great episode! Very comprehensive explanation with welcome humour. 😄

The best teams will be scheduled to play the lowest ranked teams during the group stage which should mean less of a chance of the big teams missing out on the knockout stages.

Brilliant summary of a crazy system

The most annoying part to me is, that this makes the tournament incredibly hard to follow. The neat thing about group stages, is that it divides the competition into easy to follow and fun to predict mini-tournaments. In a league like this, it's almost impossible for viewers to see possible battles form, to describe developments or to make accurate assessments of a team's performance. Now, a certain amount of unpredictability sounds nice on paper, but what this actually means, is that there are going to be the same favorite every years, the digitalized draw will have very little effect on who actually advances, the chance of a big team getting knocked out will be significantly smaller than before and overall it will lead to a total lack of excitement in the league stage.

Finally dug into the relationship of Adam to FFT and am totally confused as to why he is not on the “Meet the Team” page on the website. Let’s get this brilliant man up there!!!

Great video, it all makes a lot more sense now. Just one question regarding the 8 initial matches that teams play: Will they play the same opponents both home and away in this part of the tournament, so that if Newcastle play Barcelona, they’ll both get a chance to play each other at their own ground? If that’s not the case, it’d be very strange - as some stadiums are far tougher to visit than others.

So basically the UCL will adopt a Swiss drawing method in the league phase, similar to chess. Basically each round there is a new ranking and the top of the ranking plays the 2nd place team, 3rd plays 4th and so on. But once number 1 has played against the number 2 already then it will play number 3, 2 plays 4 and so on.

My main question is if the 8 matches in the group stage are going to be predetermined from the start or they will be chosen after each match, because in chess, in which many tournaments have the same Swiss model you dont know your next opponent until you have finished your game.

As a Liverpool fan I won’t have to worry about this format

4:56 Yes. And the UEFA and the rich clubs did everything to make the group stage boring. By giving the big leagues more and more slots for the UCL and thus making it easier for the big clubs to qualify for it, while in the smaller leagues, nobody got the chance to do "economical planning".

This is exactly the video I was hoping to get soon. Excellent.

1:36 love hearing kilmarnock being mentioned as i’m a fan of them lol mon the killie!

Will this be the same for the Europa League and conference League?

Who gets the Champions League and Europa League winner spot if those teams are already qualified through league positioning?

Concise and clear, good stuff.

This format is much better than the old one, just like the current one and future old one, was better than the previous one. Change is good

Could you explain the coefficient system for the extra two spots in more detail?

Lovely explanation 💕

From what I understand for example in the league stage if you're Man City , you get to play two teams from the top 8 , so we can get some crazy games right from the beginning. Imagine them playing Barcelona and Bayern , then they will play two other teams from 8-16 places where they could play Real Madrid and Inter. So actually this format makes it harder even for the top teams to qualify . Some of them will definitely lose out in the league stage , but fortunately for them you get the second change as long as you are in the first 24.

This helped sooooooo much

I'm actually looking forward to the new format, but there should never be a scenario where 7 teams from one nation can qualify!

This format will kill the underdogs, because the top 8 will be the same teams, and the play offs will be the rest of the good teams and the medium clubs of Europe, and probably they will catch the best teams on play offs

It seems as if they actually aren't using the true "Swiss" system which was originally used in chess and now in bridge. In those cases, in a multi-round tournament, you don't know your opponents for the next round until the previous round is finished, as the pairings are based on points scored so far. But that would mean nobody had any advance notice of fixtures for booking hotels and flights. So I'm assuming it is actually going to be the pool system as described by @MoMPickMeUp... in one of the threads, which does allow forward planning. Four pools as at present based on past performance, you play 2 from each pool randomly chosen. So you get 8 different opponents in the early stages instead of 3 played twice. Probably less chance of being drawn in a "group of death" though you could still be unlucky with opponents. Presumably you play one opponent from each pool at home and the other away. That actually sounds quite a reasonable system. Good job they've got a computer to work out the pairings - for the first round at least, I assume people picking balls out of a tombola will be a thing of the past.

A lot of possiblity to fix matchups by uefa in the big group and by the teams (like Spain do in national competitions)

Is this being done to the Europa League and Conference League? Also what does this mean for the teams that win a domestic cup now? Where will they be put?

Explain how the europa league and conference will work adam, will england still get 2 places and 1 in the conference or it reduces?

"MONEY!".. love the no BS 👌😆

The world collectively rubbing their head at MLS’s bizarre rules now that Messi is coming: 🤦‍♂️ UEFA: “Hold my beer”

Nice even harder for small teams

Maybe, increase dramatically the deference between 15nth and 16nth place. May need to fixed the qualication system

Isn't this the WhatCulture guy? Amazing work

Having watched Swiss in esports for 5 years now, this format usually causes upsets, and a lot of fans will probably be very upset when favorites end up playing eachother in the first round of 16

Still haven't seen anyone clearly explain how the initial stage of games will work/ how the draw will take place. Is it pre-determined before the draw or is a new draw ahead of each match round?

The new format has that convoluted NFL timetabe feeling for some reason... And they finally emphasize on the "league" In Champions League

I wish we can go back to the original format where the best club in each nation gets to qualify. Originally, it’s 16 but now it’s 32. Considering there are 54 European countries. 55 if you count Russia. I wish we can go back to the original format.

brilliant video, my head is hurting, but the format is now clearer. Mate, you need your own show on Sky, you have it all, knowledge, enthusiasm, and presence.

Best change imo is that teams from the UCL can't be relegated anymore to the EL and teams from the UEL can't get relegated to the UECL. This way these two competitions will actually be interesting to watch in later stages instead of watching all the champions league rejects facing off against each other. Each competition exists in it's own ecosystem of clubs that have a realisitic chance to win the title and I really like that idea. Those will be much more interesting to me than the UCL because I really enjoy watching "smaller" teams play

How are the other 2 additional spots given out, I dont think you mentioned it?

Has a best format which no one asks to change Ucl: lets fuck it up

So top 24 go to champions League Knockouts... What placements go into the Europa Knockouts? What placements miss out completely?

I was confused when the champions league format suddenly changed in my fm23 game but now I know why that happened

you didnt explain how the 8 games in the group stage that each team plays is determined

I totally get the idea of the league system for the first 8 games as each game will be important to win. Especially if you're currently sitting just below the top eight to qualify or you're in that zone for the next 24 teams and there's a possibility of (a) you're in that 24 and there's a possibility of getting knocked out or (b) you're in the bottom 8 and there's a chance of getting into the top 24 places. As for the KO stage. I still like the idea of a draw for each round. But there is a _"but"_ and it's below. But _(I told you so!)_ as it stands, if you're in the last 16 now, you know who you could be playing in the 1/4 finals. And you'll also know the two teams you could meet in the semi finals. Plus you already know who you will _NOT_ be meeting unless you get into the final as they'll be in the other half of the draw.

Presumably the knock on is that if you get the extra spots you get half the league in Europe with the two other competitions

so what about the europa and conference league, is it going to follow the same format?

Being honest this new format would be a win/win/win/win for everyone. Fans get more entertainment- watching more games of their clubs or other followed clubs Uefa gets more money (they wanted this) Football players get more money and this can be applied to their contracts before signing with ucl “guaranteed” clubs. Only negative is playing more games or if they are injured Leagues- have more potential for more viewership or other weaker teams to make their players shine more and shine and move in more bigger clubs meaning they get more money from selling players and invest that into their goals. Growing the league and clubs and having a spot in the top 5 leagues.

What you may spoil now is, since the risk of going out has been diminished, and if the quality is dipping, in the eyes of the fans, may change their perception of their domestic league (at least for the top for leagues) to be more prestigious. In the end, it’s the fans who holds the power, so let’s see how the cookie crumbles.

That year panini sticker album is gonna be huge

RIP 🪦 Real Champions League you’ll be truly missed 😢 let’s enjoy you for one final season!

To be honest I would prefer 4 groups of 10 teams, all playing in normal league format, and at the end top two from each group (or top four) gets into playoff.

How are the 8 other teams picked? Are they effectively a group of 9?

The best way to understand is to play FM23, and go a couple of seasons in. I’m assuming FM has it spot on in this case

This is going to be akward at first, but it will be insane

UEFA: doesn't like the super league Also UEFA: Procceds to create the super league

Can’t wait for that Barcelona - Shamrock Rovers fixture

I’ve been waiting for this video

To me this fudge (and that's what it is of course) reworking of the UCL tournament always looked as though it was an overly complex solution to a relatively simple problem; how to placate the (financially driven) demands of the super clubs (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milano, Internazionale, Bayern Munchen, Man City etc.) whilst NOT appearing to do exactly that, ie. maintaining even a vague impression of it being a solely merit based sporting competition? My idea to solve this conundrum, which I'd already worked out back in the 1990s, was to have one more pre-qualifying round (before the league groups stage), resulting in a smaller number of qualifiers making up the final number of 32 teams contesting the group stages but then instead of having 8 groups of 4 teams, change this to 4 groups of 8 teams, with only the top team from each of these four groups advancing to the finals, which would be organised on a festival tournament basis, ie. two semi-finals, a 3rd/4th play-off for the semi-final losers and a grand final, all held in the same city over a six day period. If you work out how many games this would give the 32 teams qualifying for the league stages, in comparison to the current scenario, it's not that different. A team going all the way to the final festival tournament week would have to play 14 league games, plus two games in the final six day festival tournament, so 16 in total. Under the current (up to end of 23-24 season) set-up, a team progressing all the way to the final plays 6 league stage games, plus 6 knock-out games and then a final, so 13 games in total. In my idea for a revamped UCL competition, the so called super clubs are all guaranteed more games overall (a minimum of 14 league fixtures) and many of those games will be competitive against similarly strong clubs (each league of 8 teams would likely contain at least 3 or 4 capable of finishing top and qualification for the final tournament), not just teams making up the numbers from the much smaller less competitive domestic leagues; this outcome resulting from the extra pre-qualification round mentioned earlier. The four game final festival tournament outlined could be a real showcase event for UEFA to broadcast globally. There would of course have to be some reward for the team winning the third/fourth play -off game in order to incentivise them and make it a sporting spectacle rather than simply a consolation prize. My idea for a UCL revamp seems much simpler (to me at least) whilst still providing many of the numerous and complex goals required?

This increases the chance of Swindon qualifying for the champ league

How will relocation to the Europa League work now?

“It’s all about getting the better clubs qualified” Do more teams qualify per country?

Hope PSV manages to qualify this season, as it is the last proper season of champions league

Honestly the spots should be spread more evenly, top 4 being given to 3 seperate leagues is actually mad. Its should be the champions league, only champions should win it. Imo it should go top 2 then cup winner (far bigger chances for an upset to occur and thus more underdogs enter the competition) for the top 3 leagues. And essentially do the same for the lower leagues reducing the number of spots, the next calibre of leagues have a spot for league winner and cup, with 2nd entering a qualifying round, then just league winner and cup winner, to league winner and cup winner entering a qualifying round, and then league winner only to winners entering a qualifying round for the lowest calibre.

I have a question! What's a "twitter"?

this new format also makes sure that big clubs dont meet other big clubs in early rounds. Bayern won all games in group stage last year and then had to face PSG and City. This would not happen with this new format, they would face some weaker teams.

Thanks for explaining the format. UEFA could've simply things by keeping the current group stage and have the group winners receiving byes while the 2nd and 3rd-placed teams advancing to a play-in round. It could adopt the World Cup format, something like 2A v 3B, 2C v 3D, 2E v 3F, 2G v 3H, and likewise for the other 2nd and 3rd seeds. The group winners will play the play-in round winners for the last 16, then QF, SF, and final. But whatever gives them more $ and makes them happy I guess.

Still miss Adam Cleary when he was in WhatCulture. He was one of the better ones there

Right now....we have the 3rd place finish in the UCL groups go onto the R-32 europa , how will it pan out considering this format?

I think this is a good middle ground between super league and not super league. Teams in the premier league can still dream about qualifying for ucl

my favourite part of this video was the money segment, although I still don't get why they're doing this. Possibly for money but that's just my best guess.

Is anything changing with Europa and Europa Conference

It was named the champions league (which was more proper than "european cup" but less than "European champions cup") for a reason.. It was to be contested between champions of domestic leagues. Back then it was fantastic. Even the Uefa cup winners cup was great. All the clubs participating in european tournaments had to have won some domestic title. That was fantastic for the sport but the clubs from the richest leagues (countries) didnt like it. They wanted guaranteed spots (and income) regardless of their performance. But most of all what they really wanted was to lessen the chance that a "lower tier" club could eliminate them from the tournament or "worse" win the title. Thats why it changed from a knock out format to group stages, thats why "uefa coefficients" where introduced. thats why the "market pool" was introduced. To guarantee the dominance of the rich clubs/leagues (and the income). The same reason is why they introduced the "financial fair play".. They didnt want a super-rich man buying a cheap team from France or Sweden, buying the most expensive players and challenging for the european title... It is supposed to be for a closed club of.. clubs. All these changes were introduced to make sure the poor leagues stay out of it as much as possible. Its no coincidence that before the change you had teams like Red Star Belgrade, Steaua Bucuresti and Celtic winning the title which has not happened since the change... Now not even Porto, Benfica, Ajax have any chance for the title. And its getting worse, Italian teams cant make it, French teams cant make it... German teams are also starting to have problems. It became a contest exclusively for a small group of teams from England and Spain and that became its downfall. Its no longer exciting. So they decided to make it even worse.. Those changes where the reason that footballer transfer fees and wages became so over the top that even super-rich teams now face financial difficulties. It started with the guaranteed participation and income those teams where granted from UEFA. Not all changes were bad. The (old format now) group stage gave more games to watch for fans of weaker leagues (even though it made advancing to knock outs harder). Plus, you want to have top teams from the top leagues in the tournament even if they didnt win a title BUT... only the champion teams from the top 10 leagues should have guaranteed participation. All other champion clubs +2 more clubs from the top 3 leagues and +1 from leagues 4 to 6 should have to earn their spot through play offs (at least 1 round) WITHOUT favorable "coefficient" draws or other favorable conditions. The other thing which no rich league would accept of course would be to distribute the market pool share for every match based on match viewership and split that equally between clubs if they draw and 60-40 (or 70/30) to the winning side regardless of domestic market value. That would mean that when/if Barcelona or Man. City lose against a Serbian or Greek club or whatever the winning team will have a huge boost in their income but even if they lose they will still have a good boost to help them get more competitive in the future. It would also eliminate matches that top teams come up indifferent because they would risk losing serious income if they did. What they are introducing with the new format will make the whole tournament boring as the same clubs will face each other forever and will share the title between them. It will also launch transfer fees and wages to even more ridiculous heights and the rich clubs will still be in debt and ask for more and more money.

The used team allocation table wasn't fully correct, but good vid for te rest

How are the group stage matches decided? It's not explained at all.

Tbf when you actual sit and look at the format it is actually a reasonably decent idea and a lot of young fans will understand it as its pretty common format in e-sports. There should be more match ups between bigger teams, pretty much every game should have something at stake and the additional place for your countries teams if they do well in Europe will encourage some national interest/pride even from fans outside of those clubs, for example this year Liverpool fans maybe having to cheer on Man City & West Ham in Europe in order for 5th to go into the UCL.

Just keep it the same as it was. It is perfect!

Why don’t they just adapt the new world cup format with 48 teams in 16 groups and that would give more group stage spots to teams from other countries as well instead of them having to play qualifiers.

not anymore now after gettting draws in groups

This is my first time watching the channel, and I wasn’t expecting Adam from what culture on here 😂

This is the only video which explains it well