As star players approach the new Champions League season this week, there are still many who don’t get the new format. Uefa even joked about it in its promotional video at the draw. The players are far from alone in this, with plenty of fans and even club executives having the same discussion.
It could be argued this is a real problem for the basic functioning of a competition, not to mention how it represents the needless complication of a sport that is historically popular due to its simplicity. There is still hope within Uefa that everyone will understand once the reality of the games and the table take shape in front of their eyes. That’s quite a rare justification but then, this whole change represents quite a leap. It also represents the start of an era where our understanding and expectations of how football works will be completely scrambled.
The new Champions League is only the first step in a cycle that will see changes to most major parts of the calendar. The structural and psychological architecture of the game is being rearranged. The World Cup is going in a similar direction, by expanding to 48 teams, at the same time as Fifa is introducing a new expanded Club World Cup. The very fact the European season runs right through the “winter break” of January is already a major difference.
In the case of the Champions League’s specific structure, a classic format of eight groups of four with the top two going through is now ending after 25 years. Despite its simplicity, the format had become predictable in recent years and lost some of its magic. It is being replaced by something that has never been seen in elite football before, which is 36 teams all put into one giant table but where each club only has eight fixtures to try and reach the top 24 places. A super league, if you will.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 16, 2024 من The Independent.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 16, 2024 من The Independent.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Insurance 'mega merger' is no great deal for consumers
The City loves a deal. Consumers, not so much. For them, a tieup between insurance giants Aviva and Direct Line, at a time when car insurance prices are at historic highs, is a far from enticing prospect.
Is the British car industry on the skids once more?
As Vauxhall plans to close its Luton plant putting 1,100 jobs at risk, Howard Mustoe asks if government policy is to blame
Brat girl's down and dirty
Charli XCX starts her victory lap in Manchester with a live show that’s as brazen as it is brilliant
Obsession and darkness at centre of Hitchcock classic
The 1964 psychodrama Marnie’ was blighted by its director’s behaviour towards the lead star Tippi Hedren, resulting in dramatic results on and off screen
CARDINAL SINS
The twisty, Oscar-tipped Conclave’ needed more than shock and awe, writes Clarisse Loughrey, while the beautiful loneliness of All We Imagine as Light’ will speak to your soul
MasterChef host faces the heat away from the kitchen
Gregg Wallace is stepping back from the long-running BBC show while claims of misconduct are probed. Nick Hilton looks at the story of the greengrocer-turned-TV presenter
ON THIS DAY
Busby Berkeley, choreographer and director, who devised a style that revolutionised Hollywood musicals, was born.
State of the nation: your least favourite in the US?
Now for happier times. A few states that don’t quite make the top three deserve a mention.
Have we gone barking mad?
These days we give our dogs facials and freshly cooked food, and treat them as if they were our babies. Charlotte Cripps ventures into the peculiar world of excessive dog parenting
"This was something I had wanted for my entire life'
With thousands of women opting to bring children into the world using solo fertility treatments, Zoé Beaty learns more about the hardships and happiness of those who go it alone
