UEFA makes gigantic change to how the Champions League will work
Starting in 2018-19, the top four teams in the top four leagues in Europe will all qualify directly to the group stage of the Champions League. UEFA announced the huge change to the tournament structure on Friday, having agreed to a new format that will run for at least three years.
The changes are UEFA's attempt to make the biggest clubs on the continent happy. With the ever-present threat of the clubs breaking away from Europe to start a super league, the confederation has to appease those clubs and make sure that they are happy to remain part of UEFA and the Champions League. They've done that, keeping them part of the confederation and Champions League at least through 2021.
Currently, the top three teams from the top three leagues go straight into the Champions League. The fourth league gets two teams. Then all four get one additional team in the playoff round.
The current format put one of the continent's four major leagues a step behind. For a while, Germany only sent three teams to the Champions League, but they surpassed Italy and, in recent years, Serie A has been the fourth league without a fourth representative team. Recent European struggles by English clubs put them under threat of slipping to fourth and losing a Champions League place, but now that is irrelevant.
There is a huge gap between the fourth and fifth leagues, making it almost assured that the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A will be the ones sending four teams to the group stage. That means half of the group stage will come from four leagues.
In addition to the changes with the top four leagues sending a total of 16 teams to the group stage, UEFA also announced that the Europa League champions will also go straight into the group stage. Right now, they could end up in the playoff round.
The coefficient system, which is used to rank the leagues and clubs, will also change, although it shouldn't endanger the top four leagues.
Finally, UEFA will change the way Champions League money is distributed among the clubs. The market pool share, which generally rewards clubs from bigger clubs, will be deemphasized, while each club's performance in the competition will play a great role in determining which clubs get the most money.
All of these moves make for a major change to to the competition. People will complain that these moves are part of the demise of the sport, putting too much power in the hands of too few teams. But a super league isn't just a dream -- it's a very real possibility that UEFA is rightfully very concerned about. Keeping the super league at bay and the Champions League intact not something to be sneezed at.
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