Today marks a new era for the UEFA Champions League, as the revamped competition gets underway with a new league-phase format consisting of 36 teams that will each play eight different clubs. 

However, not everyone is a fan of the new look competition. Appearing on Betfair’s Football…Only Bettor podcast, tipster Mark O’Haire described the league phase as a “glorified” version of the quickly-shelved rebel European Super League.

🗣️ "I think what we've got now is a glorified Super League"@MarkOHaire on the new #UCL format.

— Betfair (@Betfair) September 17, 2024

He said: “I’m sceptical about the changing structure. I thought the previous Champions League format was perfect. It’s not the format that needs overhauling, it’s the financial disparity between the big clubs and the rest, and that’s only going to get bigger. 

“What I think we’ve got now is basically a glorified super league and we’re going to be playing close to 200 league games to eliminate just 12 sides which seems bananas really. We’re going to get more games involving big teams but also more games between the lesser lights as well.”

According to UEFA, the new league-phase format is designed to provide a more compelling spectacle with more match-ups between the big sides at an earlier stage.

After completing the league phase, teams finishing in the top eight will automatically qualify for the last 16 stages, whereas teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will play in a playoff round to make it to the knockout stage proper.  

A team’s final league position will have a bearing on their route through the knock-out phases of the competition, placing extra significance on matches even if qualification is already assured. 

Also on the show was O’Haire’s fellow tipster Jake Osgathorpe, and he was more optimistic that the format will lead to a better product.

“I quite like this change, I think it’s going to be really good for the competition,” he explained. 

“I think the group stage was very boring and the Champions League only got started when the knockouts happened. The knockouts are still going to be the same and we’ve got an extra knockout round to get to the round of 16. 

“We’re not going to see two games of [Manchester] City and Shakhtar Donetsk for the fifth season in a row. We’re actually going to get to see different teams play different teams on a week-to-week basis. You need nine points probably to finish within the ninth to 24th places and that means that draws won’t be enough for these lesser teams. They probably will have to go to these bigger teams and open up rather than trying to get a point.”

League-phase winners

The new league format has also opened up new betting markets for operators, as punters can now place bets on the league winners, as well as who will finish in the top eight spots or playoffs.

Focusing on the league winner, Osgathorpe offered up Barcelona as his pick to top the table.

He said: “I think Barcelona is the best bet for me at 10/1. They look red hot at the start of this season, they just absolutely battered Girona at the weekend and are creating an abundance of chances under Hansi Flick, a man who’s won the Champions League before.

“They’ve got a nice mix within the squad of experience and youth. Flick’s getting the best out of Lewandowski as well, after he had somewhat of a down year last year. They’ve also got probably one of the best players on the planet at the moment as well in Lamine Yamal.

“I just thought that the fixtures look fairly kind. They’ve got Bayern Munich which is probably the toughest game on paper, and they’ve got [Borussia] Dortmund as well, but other than that it looks very favourable.”