Why Barcelona are playing their Champions League opener on Thursday night | OneFootball

For decades, Champions League nights were synonymous with Tuesdays and Wednesdays, while Thursdays were reserved for the Europa League. In fact, for Europe’s biggest clubs, ‘Thursday night football‘ often carried a stigma and served as a reminder that they had failed to qualify for the continent’s top competition.

That’s why it feels unusual for FC Barcelona, one of Europe’s giants, to be making their Champions League debut this season on a Thursday night.

The reason lies in UEFA’s new competition format, which came into effect last season. With the traditional group stage scrapped, the Champions League now features a single 36-team ‘League Phase‘. The top eight teams advance directly to the Round of 16, while those finishing 9th to 24th must go through play-offs.

To give each team’s debut greater visibility, as explained by SPORT, UEFA has also expanded the opening matchday from two days to three. Instead of squeezing nine fixtures into one evening, only six are played per day.

This scheduling change has pushed some Champions League games, including Barça’s opener, onto Thursday.

As a result, FC Barcelona kick off their European campaign tonight, Thursday, September 18, with a tough away clash at St. James’ Park against Newcastle United.

The knock-on effect of this calendar shift is that the Europa League and Conference League will now begin a week later than usual, on Wednesday, September 24, and Thursday, September 25.