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.
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The top four leagues in the UEFA coefficient ranking – now La Liga, the Bundesliga, Premier League and Serie A – will see four teams enter the group stage without having to go through a qualification round.
Under the format, the top four leagues (based on coefficient) will each have four teams automatically qualify for the group stages, totaling 16, which is half of the 32 group stage spots.
Two places go to non-champion teams from the lower-ranked leagues who will also take part in the qualifying competition.
In addition, a Champions League group slot will be guaranteed to the previous season’s Europa League victor, whereas now, the victor can be made to qualify through the play-offs.
European soccer’s governing body UEFA got the sport’s richest clubs to sign up to a new Champions League agreement, averting for now the threat of an oft-discussed breakaway competition run by the biggest teams. That will change to the Top10 two seasons from now, with associations 11-15 getting places in the final playoff round.
“UEFA, the clubs, the leagues and the national associations speak with one voice on these matters”, UEFA said in a statement.
The fourth-ranked league, now Italy, are the biggest winners.
City’s double-header with five-time European champions Barca is the stand-out fixture involving England’s four representatives in the group stage, with Premier League champions Leicester City, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur all handed favourable draws. Right now, they could end up in the playoff round.
Uefa has besides uncovered the cash related dispersal to clubs will be “stretched out all around” for the Champions league and Europa League.
The biggest losers were the 11th- and 12th-ranked leagues, now Switzerland and the Czech Republic, who will lose their guaranteed places in the group stage.
Several big clubs, such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Inter Milan and AC Milan, have missed out on this season’s group stage after performing poorly in their leagues last season.
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ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said: “I welcome UEFA’s decision, it reflects a serious and fair solution for European club football”.
