Celtic and Rangers alive to latest Champions League changes as UEFA’s radical revamp gambles on one group

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Plans for the new-look Champions League format to be introduced in the 2024/25 season have been explained, and Celtic and Rangers will be keen to see how the competition will work as they hope to be rubbing shoulders with the cream of the Continent again.The Glasgow rivals qualified for the group stage last season with Ange Postecoglou’s men going straight in next season after again winning the Scottish Premiership.

Michael Beale, meanwhile, will be hoping to join his rival through the qualifiers. And then the following season will see the most significant changes to the most lucrative tournament in club football in a generation, as confirmed last year by UEFA’s executive committee.The number of teams will increase from 32 to 36 and the extra four teams will see an increase in 50 per cent of matches - going from a total of 125 games to 225 with each team guaranteed 10 matches – to boost the prize money on offer.

The biggest change is the fact the teams will go into a single group. It’s called the ‘Swiss model’ because it’s based on the Swiss-system tournament used in chess, whereby each team does not play all of the others.A new graphic has emerged detailing exactly how it will work.

The 36 teams go into one league, each playing four games at home and four away. The top eight teams will progress into the knockout sage with teams nine to 24 going into a playoff to determine the eight teams who will join them to make up the last 16.