💡 Superliga unveils its fourth format change, could this be the final one? | OneFootball

In parallel to its multimillion-dollar lawsuit against UEFA for damages, A22 Sport has designed a new format for the now-called Unify League.

This advances the new Super League idea for the project championed by Florentino Pérez. Will this fourth format be the definitive one?

🏆 Three competitions of 36 clubs

The Unify League will consist of three men's competitions: Star League, Gold League, and Blue League. Each will feature 36 clubs that can qualify based on their performance in national leagues. Nothing new so far.

The main league (Star) will be divided into two groups of 18 teams ranked by sporting merit, and this is one of the tweaks A22 has made to the tournament.

In Group A, the current Star League champion, the champions of the six main national leagues (according to UEFA coefficient), and the 11 clubs with the highest UEFA club coefficient among qualifiers will play.

Group B will consist of the remaining 18 qualified clubs, according to the UEFA ranking.

The matches in this phase will be decided by random draw within each of the two groups.

🤔 What changes in the new Super League format?

Each club will play 8 matches in the group stage, 4 at home and 4 away, against 8 different opponents from their group. Of these 8 matches, 4 will be against clubs from pot 1 of the draw (the 9 best clubs in each group according to the UEFA coefficient) and 4 against clubs placed in Pot 2 in the draw. Opponents will be determined by random draw.

The teams that perform best in the group stage, all against all, advance to the knockout or playoff phase.

The format is similar to the current Champions League but by dividing the main league into two groups, the teams ranked highest by UEFA ranking ensure a first phase of matches against teams of a similar level.

⚔️ How would the knockout rounds be?

The top six finishers in the league phase of Group A would enter the round of 16, and the remaining 8 (positions 7 to 14) would play a playoff. The last four are eliminated.

In Group B, the top two advance directly to the round of 16, and the next 8 go to the playoff. The last eight would be eliminated.

In these round of 16 matchups, the seeded teams will play against the rest in pairings according to the positions they have obtained in their respective groups.

From the round of 16 onwards, the pairings will be determined by a draw conducted according to the following principles. Clubs are grouped in pairs according to their positions at the end of the group stage to form four seeded pairs (clubs in positions 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 of Group A, and clubs in positions 1 and 2 of Group B).

👍🏻 How does it improve on the previous format?

Originally a closed tournament with the continent's best clubs, the Super League has evolved into a competition very similar to the current Champions League, though with variations in the organization of its groups and taking national leagues into account.

However, the new A22 format continues to generate the same doubts as the original version and does not have the explicit support of the clubs.

How will a free broadcast model like the one they propose coexist with the necessary income to finance the project? What do UEFA and the national leagues think of the new tournament?

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.

📸 CHANDAN KHANNA - AFP or licensors