Was this season's new Champions League format a success?
A closer look at this season's Champions League and its new format
Paris Saint-Germain have secured their first Champions League title, bringing to a close a season marked by the most dramatic revamp of the competition in more than 30 years.
Author | Peter Grainger
Since the introduction of the group stage in 1991–92, the tournament had largely followed a familiar pattern: teams placed in groups of four, facing each other home and away before progressing to a knockout stage. This season broke from tradition.
Under the new format, 36 teams took part in a single league phase. Each club played eight matches against eight different opponents, four at home and four away. The league phase concluded at the end of January, followed by the usual knockout rounds. But the question remains: did it work?
PSG will say it did. The French champions lifted the trophy in Munich despite finishing 15th in the league phase and having to come through a play-off to reach the last 16. From there, they built momentum and went on to clinch a long-awaited European crown.
Was there more excitement in the early stages?
The early stages of the tournament offered greater drama than in previous years. In the old system, clubs often confirmed their place in the last 16 before the final group matches. This time, the league phase remained competitive right to the end.
Last season, 13 of the 16 knockout places were already decided before the final group games. This year, only Liverpool and Barcelona had guaranteed qualification ahead of the last matchday. With 27 teams still in the running, the stage was set for a thrilling finish.
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The new format also delivered marquee fixtures earlier in the competition. Four of the last five Champions League finals were replayed during the league phase.
Manchester City provided one of the biggest stories of the campaign. They needed three points from their final league phase match to secure a play-off spot. After doing so, they were knocked out by Real Madrid in a dramatic contest that encapsulated both the unpredictability and spectacle of the revised format.
By creating a format where teams played eight different opponents in a league stage that concluded with 64 goals in its final 18 matches, The decision-makers at UEFA could feel they have responded to the suggestions that the group stages in the previous format were repetitive at times.
What did you think?
One of our readers said: "The most striking change, for me, was that teams met only once during the league stage. That single encounter meant results did not carry the same sense of finality, and the dynamic from so-called lesser sides felt noticeably different compared with the old format, where a return fixture loomed just weeks away.
"One of the highlights of the league phase was Aston Villa’s victory over Bayern Munich. Under the previous system, Bayern would likely have had the opportunity to correct that slip in a second meeting. This time, they did not. However, they still managed to recover the points elsewhere and progress."
