BARCELONA/NYON; Agreement is reportedly in sight between European football federation UEFA and A22, the company which represents the controversial European Super League.

The Barcelona sports newspaper Mundo Deportivo has claimed that seven meeings have settled on a proposal which would mean a further revision of the Champions League from 2027 when the next commercial phase begins.

One of the proposed features is that the league phase would see the top 18 teams in the ranking play their eight matches against opponents from that top group, rather than the current ‘open’ format

This so-called Super Champions League would be available on the UNIFY television platform proposed by the Super League, either free to view with advertisements or premium without ads.

Mundo Deportivo reported that A22 – front operation for FC Barcelona and Real Madrid – has been involved in intense secret negotiations since a ruling by the European Court of Justice left both sides claiming partial victory in their legal standoff.

In the new format the 36 clubs in the current Champions League would be split into two groups with the top 18 according to the UEFA rankings playing the eight matches of the first phase while the clubs ranked 19th to 36th would play another eight more evenly matched ties, determined by draw, as of now.

The top eight teams from Groups 1 to 18 would advance to the round of 16, as is currently the case. Meanwhile, another 16 teams from Groups 1 to 2 would play a round of 32 tie, as is also the case today. The ninth-placed team from Group 1 would face the lowest-scoring team from Group 2.

Thus, the pairing would be based on the standings after the eight first-round matches.

This proposed format change aims to further raise the level of the first phase of the competition with better matches while allowing clubs from Groups 19 to 36 to have a chance of winning the competition.

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