European women’s football is set for major changes, with the Champions League switching to the ‘Swiss model’ format and the launch of a second-tier competition.
Both changes will come into effect at the start of the 2025-26 season, with the existing media and sponsorship rights agreements lasting until the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
The decisions were agreed at UEFA’s Executive Committee meeting in Hamburg on Saturday, ahead of the group-stage draw for next summer’s men’s European Championship.
The men’s Champions League will use the Swiss model format from next season, while there has been a second-tier men’s European competition since 1971 (introduced as the UEFA Cup, before changing its name to the Europa League in 2009).
The Swiss model format comes from chess, where it is used to rank a large number of competitors in a single table without everyone playing each other. In the UWCL, one 18-team group will replace the existing format of four groups of four. Teams will play six matches in the group stage, three at home and three away, before the knockout rounds. UEFA says further details on this and the second-tier competition will be released on Monday.
UEFA’s adaptation of the idea for the men’s tournament will see teams play eight different opponents,…
