Ilkay Gündogan absolutely disagrees with the new format of the Champions League from 2024/25. The past few days have been dominated by the opposition to the establishment of the so-called Super League, a project that has been canceled for the time being, but not everyone liked the recent change to the most important European club tournament either. Gündogan states that hardly anyone pauses to think about the efforts that the footballers themselves have to make, he announced on social media on Thursday evening.
The new Champions League format was approved by UEFA’s executive committee last Monday in Montreux, Switzerland. From 2024/25, the number of clubs in the Champions League will be expanded from 32 to 36. There is no longer a pool system, but one ranking will be maintained for all 36 clubs. All clubs play ten group matches. The best eight clubs qualify for the last sixteen and are supplemented by the winners of the play-offs between the numbers 9 to 24.
With all the Super League stuff going on … can we please also speak about the new Champions League format? More and more and more games, is no one thinking about us players? The new UCL format is just the lesser of the two evils in comparison to the Super League …
– Ilkay Gündogan (@IlkayGuendogan) April 22, 2021
“Now all that Super League hassle is going on. . . Can we please also talk about the new format of the Champions League ”, tweeted Gündogan. “More and more and more competitions. Does nobody think about us, about the players? The new Champions League format is the lesser of two evils compared to the Super League. ” The Manchester City midfielder’s tweet goes viral. At the time of writing, the counter stands at 149,000 likes and 35,000 retweets.
Gündogan posted another tweet: “The current Champions League format works great and that’s why it’s the most popular club competition in the world. For the players themselves and for the fans. ” This tweet also generated tens of thousands of likes in no time. With the larger number of participants, more matches per club and possibly also two wildcards for large clubs that are unable to qualify through their national league, UEFA has nevertheless fulfilled the wish of top clubs for a more lucrative and sporting more interesting tournament.
The UCL format right now works great and that is why it’s the most popular club competition in the world – for us players and for the fans.
– Ilkay Gündogan (@IlkayGuendogan) April 22, 2021
This could not prevent twelve clubs from England, Spain and Italy from announcing their own Super League last Sunday. These clubs wanted to generate much higher income with more matches between top teams than they do now with the Champions League. After all the criticism from the football world, six English clubs withdrew less than 48 hours later, as well as AC Milan, Internazionale and Atlético Madrid. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus still see bread in the Super League.