Title: The Lesser of Two Evils

Many soccer legends have risen from different backgrounds and generations, but one thing is more or less the same: most have competed in one of Europe’s most prestigious soccer tournaments, the UEFA Champions League (UCL). The UCL is a European soccer club competition that has always maintained a stellar reputation in the sports world. Ever since its inception in 1955, the competition has evolved nearly every decade with the ever-changing soccer climate. With recent news of 12 top European clubs proposing a new competition called the Super League and the resulting protests by soccer fans, UEFA proposed an entirely new Champions League format that UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin believes will benefit soccer. Čeferin claimed, “This evolved format will still keep alive the dream of any team in Europe to participate in the UEFA Champions League thanks to results obtained on the pitch, and it will enable long-term viability, prosperity, and growth for everyone in European football.” Though this new UCL system allows more opportunities for top teams to play each other, this proposal is further proof that UEFA’s focus is not on the players and managers, but rather on its profits.

The current UCL format consists of 32 teams, split into eight groups of four teams, playing in a double round robin system. Each club plays the other three clubs in its group twice, and at the end, the top two teams of each group advance to the knockout stage. The 16 teams that move on play in a tournament style competition with two-legged matchups, one home and one away. The tournament goes from the Round of 16 to the quarter finals to the semifinals and ends with the final, the one match for all the marbles, played in a neutral stadium.

The proposed changes that will take place in the 2024-2025 season will significantly alter the current format. The 32-club group stage will be discarded and replaced with a single league consisting of 36 clubs. In this new format, each team plays 10 different clubs and advances to the 16-team tournament phase of the competition depending on their position in the league. Teams ranked first through eighth qualify, teams ranked ninth to 16th play against teams ranked 17th to 24th for the other eight spots, and teams 25th or lower are eliminated from the tournament. The knockout stage of the competition is more or less the same, beginning with the Round of 16 and ending with the final.

Some players and managers spoke out against UEFA, claiming that their new plans did not consider player fitness and competition scheduling. Thirty-year-old Manchester City midfielder İlkay Gündoğan responded to the new Champions League format on Twitter, explaining how UEFA doesn’t care about the players or the staff. The German claimed, “More and more and more games. Is no one thinking about us players? [...] The UCL format right now works great, and that is why it’s the most popular club competition in the world - for us players and for the fans.” Gündoğan is right, considering how many games a soccer player in Europe would have to play according to the proposed changes. Players already compete in their domestic league, cup games, friendlies, and national team matches throughout the year. Many soccer players have busy lives outside of the sport, and increasing their workload would pull them further away from friends and family.

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp also expressed his doubts, claiming UEFA isn’t considering the effects the congested format will have on players and scheduling. The Reds manager stated, “UEFA showed me the idea, and I said I don’t like it––10 games rather than six. No idea where to put them in. The only people who never get asked are the coaches, the players, and the supporters. UEFA didn’t ask us. The Super League didn’t ask us. It’s just always ‘play more games’––that’s not possible.” Similarly, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola explained how UEFA is not concerned with player injuries. In agreement with Klopp, the Catalan manager proclaimed that the managers and players are not in charge of the format, and there isn’t a way for players to play the proposed number of games across all competitions without fitness issues.

Considering the detrimental effect the new Champions League format will likely have on players and teams, it isn’t a good idea to go forward with it. The only reason UEFA is proposing a new system and increasing the number of matches is to boost ticket-selling and profits from a greater television audience for their sponsors. UEFA has to understand that soccer players play matches week in and week out, with their only break falling in the summer. Many fans, such as myself, are not happy about UEFA’s plan. We want to see the soccer superstars whom we admire play at their best, instead of playing fatigued match after match. Hopefully, there will be many more players to follow Gündoğan’s, Guardiola’s, and Klopp’s footsteps in addressing the current situation.