UEFA is to alter the Champions League rules for next season to give home advantage to the best teams in the League Phase throughout the knockout rounds — after Arsenal and Barcelona both faced semifinal heartbreak.
In 2024-25, the first season of the expanded 36-team tournament, clubs who finished in the top eight of the League Phase were guaranteed to play second leg of their round of 16 tie at home. But for the quarterfinals and semifinals, an open draw was held, diluting the value of performance in the table.
In this season’s semifinals, Paris Saint-Germain (15th) and Inter Milan (4th) were both drawn to play the second leg at home, even though they finished lower in the table than their respective opponents, Arsenal (3rd) and Barcelona (2nd). PSG and Inter both went through to the final after winning in the second leg, with the Ligue 1 club running out commanding 5-0 winners at the Allianz Arena.
From next season, the order of the tie will be decided by which team finishes highest — and they will play the second leg at home.
The quarterfinals didn’t throw up such clear examples, with PSG the only team lower-ranked than their opponents (Aston Villa, eighth) to advance, but they were drawn to play the return leg at Villa Park.
The change was agreed by UEFA’s club competitions committee in a meeting ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final. Although the regulations for 2025-26 have already been published, the modification can still be made if ratified by the Executive Committee; as it’s not due to meet again until September, a virtual meeting will be held — no later than the League Phase draw on Aug. 28 — where approval will be confirmed.
It will underline the importance of finishing as high as possible in League Phase, rather than just being in the top eight — which provides two blank gameweeks in February, when teams ranked ninth to 24th take part in the knockout playoff round, and a home second leg in the round of 16.
So this season, by finishing in first and second position, Liverpool and Barcelona would be guaranteed crucial home advantage all the way through.
There was some discussion about giving the higher-ranked club the choice of playing home or away in the second leg, but it was decided to go with automatic leg order.
The same change is expected to apply to both the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Conference League.
No other alterations were made, including a rumoured scrapping of extra time before penalties and blocking clubs from the same country from playing each other in the knockout playoff round.
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