UEFA Champions League’s New League Phase: Exciting Format or Unfair System?

There is no doubt that the UEFA Champions League is and will likely always remain the greatest club competition in the world.

That continues to be true as Europe’s elite tournament goes into its second season with the revamped 36-team league phase format.

League Phase vs Group Stage

It is probably also true that the old group stage format was fairer and more logical, but the current one is endlessly more exciting and entertaining. Every Champions League match week, there is at least one encounter between two of the continent’s heavyweights.

Also, there are plenty of matches where some of the lesser teams can still compete well. Conversely, however, the bottom teams of the league phase often don’t have the quality required to do well at this, the highest level. There is a wide gap between the best and worst league phase teams.

On the other hand, in the old group stage system, one could often easily predict which teams would progress to the Round of 16, while in the league phase system, it is very difficult to foresee which clubs will finish in the top eight, or which will go to the playoff knockout round.

A Reminder of How It Works

Before each team finds out its opponents in the league phase, the 36 sides are placed into four pots, usually in accordance with their UEFA club coefficient ranking, except that the defending champions and Europa League winners, who are automatically placed in pot 1.

Then, the computer assigns each side two opponents from each pot, keeping in mind country protection, travel restrictions, weather, etc.

Some Disadvantages of This Champions League Format

As pointed out above, this format is less fair than the previous group stage format. The teams are ranked together in a single table, even though they don’t all play the same opponents in the course of the league phase.

For example, last season, Bayern Munich were assigned Aston Villa and Slovan Bratislava from pot four, arguably the most difficult and the easiest team in that pot, respectively. The strength of the teams that sides can be assigned to can vary significantly.

Given this, it is unfair to rank the teams together. Another disadvantage is that the league phase ranking of a team often did not have a significant impact on them.

The best example of this is Liverpool finishing the league phase on top by truly dominating it, but then facing PSG in the round of 16 and getting knocked out immediately, despite the strong league phase performance.

Meanwhile, PSG themselves ended up winning the title, despite only having secured a place in the knockout playoff round on the final day of the league phase.

Supposedly, UEFA are going to work to try to give teams that had a higher league phase ranking more of an advantage going forward.

Of course, the teams that finish below the top 24 are out of European competitions altogether for the season. But for the others, they still have everything to play for.

Another disadvantage, obviously, is players having to play too many matches, but that has to be part of a larger discussion.

Overall, the benefits of the new system outweigh the disadvantages, and many initial critics of the new system have been surprised by the excitement it creates, myself included.

It is excitement and uncertainty that keep football fans coming back for more.