{"id":47968,"date":"2025-04-25T00:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T00:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/47968\/"},"modified":"2025-04-25T00:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T00:22:10","slug":"uefa-could-introduce-three-major-rule-changes-to-the-champions-league-next-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/47968\/","title":{"rendered":"UEFA could introduce three major rule changes to the Champions League next season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The 2025\/26 Champions League is reportedly considering introducing a trio of new regulations in a further revamp of the tournament.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/football\/champions-league\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Europe&#8217;s premier club competition<\/a> debuted a controversial new-look format at the beginning of the current campaign.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"There could be more change to come in the Champions League\" height=\"692\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2209991728.jpg\" data-caption=\"There could be more change to come in the Champions League\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2209991728.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>There could be more change to come in the Champions LeagueCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>A 36-team league phase has replaced the typical eight groups of four clubs, with the top eight advancing straight through to the last 16.<\/p>\n<p>Those placed 9th to 24th then competed in play-off matches for the final knockout-stage spots.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s been a drastic change but the competition could welcome <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bild.de\/sport\/fussball\/champions-league-uefa-diskutiert-neue-regeln-elfer-revolution-680883d1b38e7833f3b9326b\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"even more alterations (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">even more alterations<\/a> for next season.<\/p>\n<p>As reported by German outlet BILD, governing body UEFA have been discussing the removal of extra time in knockout stage matches.<\/p>\n<p>MORE ON THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE<\/p>\n<p>The winner would be decided by a penalty shootout instead in a bid to reduce player strain.<\/p>\n<p>Another change that&#8217;s been considered is that the top eight teams in the league phase will be rewarded in the latter stages.<\/p>\n<p>Their quarter-final and semi-final second leg matches against lower-ranked sides will be played at home in addition to the last 16.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal are said to have criticised the current format as they finished third in the league ahead of quarter-final opponents Real Madrid.<\/p>\n<p>Madrid progressed through the play-offs but it was the Gunners who had to play the second leg away at the Bernabeu.<\/p>\n<p>As well as this, Paris Saint-Germain came 15th but will play their semi-final second leg against Arsenal at home.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Three new regulations may make an appearance next season\" height=\"640\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/uefa-champions-league-trophy-captured-977142855.jpg\" data-caption=\"Three new regulations may make an appearance next season\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/uefa-champions-league-trophy-captured-977142855.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Three new regulations may make an appearance next seasonCredit: Getty<a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Penalty shootouts could replace extra time\" height=\"640\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/curtis-jones-liverpool-sees-penalty-979139428.jpg\" data-caption=\"Penalty shootouts could replace extra time\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/curtis-jones-liverpool-sees-penalty-979139428.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Penalty shootouts could replace extra timeCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>UEFA could also revert to an old format regarding clubs that are from the same country playing each other.<\/p>\n<p>PSG vs Brest, Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid and Bayern Munich vs Bayer Leverkusen were all same-nation ties after the league phase.<\/p>\n<p>But these matches could only be allowed from the quarter-finals onwards once again.<\/p>\n<p>This season&#8217;s Champions League semi-finals begin next Tuesday when Arsenal host PSG at the Emirates Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona and Inter Milan contest the other tie, with the first leg live on talkSPORT on April 30.<\/p>\n<p>The final will be played at the Munich Football Arena on Saturday May 31.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025\/26 Champions League is reportedly considering introducing a trio of new regulations in a further revamp of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[161,199,1614,94,8883,6544,79,6536,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-47968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-arsenal","9":"tag-barcelona","10":"tag-champions-league","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-inter-milan","13":"tag-paris-saint-germain","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uefa","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114395751678746770","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}