What happened to the group stage, who was eliminated, and the additional playoff match?

The Champions League will have a new format, as officially announced by UEFA on Monday. It will be valid as of the 24/25 season, i.e. the next season.

The group stage will no longer have 32 teams and eight sectors, now there will be a run-off, but to explain it better, we leave you here a step-by-step of how everything will happen.

*Goodbye groups: The qualifiers will not be 32 teams, but now 36, and the group stage will not be held, but rather a kind of league.

*More competitors to face: Each team will no longer play 6 matches against 3 opponents. Now each team will play 8 matches against 8 different opponents (4 home and away).

* New elimination phase: There will not be 16 teams that will qualify directly to the round of 16, now there will be 24 teams that will qualify to the next round. Seeds 1 to 8 will advance directly to the round of 16, and seeds 9 to 24 will compete in the repechage stage.

*Excluded: If the club is located in square 25 to 36, they will be eliminated immediately (they will not return to the Europa League).

This new format will be developed not only in the Champions League, but also in smaller competitions: the European and Conference League. There are also 36 clubs in each tournament.