The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League has always been every European club's dream.

There have been many underdog winners, for example, FC Porto winning the UCL in 2004,making a statement showing that anything is possible in the UEFA Champions League.

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Everyone was in love with the format, they all found it to be simple to understand, coaches, players, and even fans.

They felt very comfortable knowing their football club only had to play three teams twice before finding out if they either went through to the Round of 16 (RO16), demoted to the Europa League, or sadly even knocked out of both competitions.

From its beginnings in 1955 up until 1991, the format was that of a traditional knockout tournament with a series of two-legged home/away ties.

For 70 years it has always been 4teams in a group, one home match, one away. In the summer of ‘24, UEFA made an announcement saying that the simple group stage format will be changed.

The new format will introduce a better competitive balance between all the teams, with the possibility for each team to play opponents of a similar competitive level throughout the league phase. The Champions League and Europa League matches will be played between September and January.

To ensure the new 2024/25 format will deliver the best for clubs, players and fans, UEFA based its design on extensive consultations with key stakeholders in the European football community.

"I am really pleased that it was a unanimous decision of the UEFA Executive Committee, with the European Club Association, European Leagues and national associations all agreeing with the proposal made.

Another proof that European football is more united than ever." said UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin.

The present Champions League group stage includes 32 participants divided into eight groups of four.

From the 2024/25 season, 36 clubs will participate in the Champions League league phase (former group stage), giving four more sides the opportunity to compete against the best clubs in Europe.

The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the round of 16, while the teams finishing in 9th to 24th place will compete in a two-legged knock-out phase play-off to secure their path to the last 16 of the competition.

Teams that finish 25th or lower will be eliminated, with no access to the UEFA Europa League.

Those 36 clubs will participate in a single league competition in which all 36 competing clubs are ranked together.

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Slot one: This place will go to the club ranked third in the championship of the association in fifth position in the access list, which is determined by the UEFA association club coefficient ranking.

Slot two: This place will be awarded to a domestic champion by extending from four to five the number of clubs qualifying according to the Champions path of the competition's qualifying process, which will consist of four qualifying rounds.

Slots three and four: These places will go to the associations with the best collective performance by their clubs in the previous season.

Some coaches are satisfied with this change, while others feel like it's too much stress on players to play so many games during one season.

Legendary football coach Carlo Ancelotti had to say this about the format, "Too many matches, "was the response Ancelotti gave to reporters when asked for his assessment on the new league phase format.

"There have been too many, but for everyone," he said. "And, at this moment in football, we have to remove matches, not add more. That's my opinion.

"Many have gotten so used to the old group stage format, but maybe in the future many will say the change was for the best.

People nowadays are so scared for change when in reality it may be what's best. After all 8games have been played, many like the new system while others are still stuck on the old oneand prefer their old and nostalgic way of UCL football.