UEFA revolution: welcome news expected for Barcelona in the Champions League
A historic step looms on the horizon
UEFA's executive committee meets tomorrow, Tuesday, to settle the host cities for the finals of the Champions League, the Europa League, the Conference League and the Super Cup for 2027 and 2028. The same meeting will announce an overhaul of national team competitions from 2028, reshaping the World Cup qualifiers, the Euros and the UEFA Nations League into something resembling the Champions League format.
According to Spanish newspaper "Marca", European football's governing body has adopted the new vision for rollout after Euro 2028, following a comprehensive review of the current men's national team competitions and extensive consultations with all the national associations.
From the 2028-2029 season, the UEFA Nations League drops from four levels to three, each made up of 18 teams. Every league competition splits into three groups of six, and each team plays six matches against five different opponents. Those fixtures run home or away against teams from other rankings, and home or away against the opponent in its own ranking.
With 55 teams involved, the third competition will feature a group of seven whose schedule kicks off one international break earlier. The competition then wraps up with the quarter-finals, the final four and the promotion and relegation play-offs, all unchanged.
Category divisions shape the European qualifiers too. The first competition takes 36 teams from the first and second levels of the UEFA Nations League, while the second competition takes the remaining 18 (or 19) teams.
Three groups make up the first competition, each holding 12 teams drawn from three rankings of 12. Every side plays six matches home and away against six different opponents, two from each ranking, mirroring the UEFA club competitions format. The second competition follows the exact blueprint of the Nations League's third level, running through three groups of six (or one of seven).
Host teams qualify directly for the finals, yet they still enter the European qualifiers with an aim tied to their position in the next edition of the UEFA Nations League. The best-ranked teams in each group of the first competition go through automatically. The rest of the places come via a play-off system built to give even the second-competition teams a fair shot at qualifying.
The detailed system goes before the executive committee for final approval this September. A full breakdown of the new setup will follow at a press conference after the meeting.
Tuesday also brings the announcement of the stadium hosting the 2029 Champions League final. The "Spotify Camp Nou" has emerged as the frontrunner, ahead of the other candidate, Wembley. The 2027 final heads to the Metropolitano Stadium, while Munich stages the 2028 showpiece as the only city to submit a bid.
