- There is no more group stage, it is going to be rather a league just as in its name.
- There are going to be 36 teams instead of 32.
- Every team are going to play against 8 different teams, half of them home games and the rest is away.
- Top 8 finishers are qualifying for last 16 directly. The teams placed from 9th to 24th are playing a two-legged playoffs to earn their way through last 16. The remaining teams in the league are eliminated.
- There is no more dropping to the Europa League as of now.
Source: UEFA Official Website
The new format looks interesting but it is likely to be fun for now I think. But will this matter for Real Madrid after signing Mbappe? I don't think so.
Interesting?
If earlier out of 32 (which was already too many) teams, 16 were eliminated, now only 12 out of 36 are eliminated. If we project this onto the old format, it turns out that this is equivalent to the fact that out of 32 teams only 8 would be eliminated.
This is a fucking circus and a disgrace. The group stage was rotten even before, but now it will be a set of dull friendly games, the result of which will be the same set of teams in the playoffs.