"Hello, football". The Champions League starts today

“Hello, football”. The Champions League starts today

Today marks the start of the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League season, and from Tuesday to Thursday, 36 teams will play their first matches of the opening stage. According to the new format, which has already become familiar to many over the past two seasons, each club must play 8 matches.

Once upon a time, the Champions League was called the European Cup, consisting only of play-offs, and the transition to a new format in the 90s was considered one of the most important reforms implemented by UEFA. It was this change that turned the tournament into the most prestigious competition and brought huge revenues to the organization. It was not just about the format, but also about the composition of the participants.

Because previously, only the clubs that became champions in their own countries participated in the European Cup, while other teams went to the UEFA Cup. As you can see, this situation significantly reduced the number of favorites in the European Cup. Imagine if that system had been preserved, currently "Arsenal", "Real", "Inter", "Bayern", and "PSG" would be participating in the Champions League, while the rest — "Manchester City", "Liverpool", "Real", "Man United", "Atletico", and other teams would be in the UEFA Cup. Starting from the early 90s, runners-up were also added to the Champions League, and as a result, almost all of Europe's top clubs were gathered in one competition. Although this change, in a sense, lowered the prestige of the UEFA Cup and eventually led to its disappearance, the new UCL was worth it.

The allocation of additional slots to the Champions League undoubtedly had an impact on increasing the intrigue in national championships as well. Now, in leagues like the Premier League and La Liga, in addition to the title race, the competition for the top four and top five has also intensified.

The post-COVID era created a need for some top clubs to earn more money, and after the Super League controversy emerged, UEFA also realized that the time for a new era and new reforms had come. The new format, called the "Swiss system", was a bold step aimed at bringing a new spirit to the tournament, making the autumn matches even more interesting, and, of course, attracting more funds.

So, now the number of participants in the main stage has been increased from 32 to 36, and the group system has been abandoned. Teams are divided into 4 pots based on rankings, and each club gets two opponents from each pot. In a system where four matches are played away and four matches at home, if each team places in the top 8 of the overall table after 8 matches, they advance to the round of 16. The teams finishing in 9th–24th places will form 8 pairings and play a separate play-off, and the winners will join the top 8 teams to become participants in the round of 16. The subsequent stages will continue as before.

As you can see, clubs will now play 8 matches instead of 6 in the autumn, i.e., group stage of the Champions League, and the teams finishing in 9th–24th places will play two more matches in an additional play-off. This means that the workload in the Champions League for a team has increased by 2–4 matches. In addition, it must be admitted that the level of opponents has also risen.

Previously, 8 groups were formed according to pots, and the round of 16 tickets were awarded separately for each group; now all teams compete in a single tournament table. Since the groups were formed based on rankings, it was a very rare occurrence for two top clubs to fall into one group, and even then, both favorites easily resolved the issue of the next stage by defeating the other two opponents. In the new format, it is difficult to predict in advance; on the contrary, we have also seen cases where many top clubs remained outside the top eight and faced each other in the play-offs.

Even the teams in the strongest Pot 1 get 2 opponents from their own pot — this situation alone shows that there will be many top clashes in the main stage. Pay attention to the top matches we can witness in the main stage, which will last until February:

"Real" – "Inter", "Liverpool" – "Atletico", "Napoli" – "Arsenal", "Atletico" – "Manchester United", "Manchester City" – "PSG", "PSG" – "Barcelona", "Bayern" – "Arsenal", "Atletico" – "Bayern", "Arsenal" – "Borussia", "Manchester City" – "Napoli", "Barcelona" – "Manchester City", "Arsenal" – "Real", "Inter" – "Liverpool", "Manchester United" – "Bayern", and so on. We will witness several top matches in almost every round. While in the initial years some top clubs treated the matches of this stage somewhat dismissively, last season the struggle for the top eight was highly competitive, because as mentioned above, no one wants to fall against another strong opponent in the additional play-offs.

Of course, as always, the upcoming season also has its favorites. For example, Luis Enrique's "PSG" became the second team to win consecutively twice and is determined to repeat the result of the record holder "Real". The Parisians, who have kept almost their entire championship squad, will naturally start the new season as the main favorite. But as usual, it must be admitted that this time too, "PSG" got quite difficult opponents. In the initial stage alone, the Parisians will take the field against teams like "Manchester City", "Barcelona", "Villarreal", "Roma", "Aston Villa", and "Como". Considering that autumn "PSG" is usually slightly different, entering the top eight will not be easy. In the previous two seasons, at least 16 points were needed to enter the top 8. This means it will be necessary to win at least five out of 8 matches.

London's "Arsenal" is being mentioned as a favorite for the new season. Arteta's team, which lost in the final only in a penalty shootout and strengthened in the summer with players like Tzolis, Guimaraes, and Konsa, can be safely assumed to focus all its attention on this European cup this time. For information, "Arsenal" has never won Europe's most prestigious tournament in its history.

Also, teams like "Bayern", which played almost like champions last year, "Real", which renewed half of its squad with Mourinho, "Manchester City", which spent half a billion on midfield, "Liverpool", which directed the same amount of funds to the attacking line, and as usual, "Barcelona", will also fight only for victory.

In addition, there will be great interest in "Manchester United", which is returning to the tournament after a three-year break. The "Red Devils" had not yet been able to participate in this competition since the transition to the new format.

Austria's "LASK" became the country's champion for the first time since 1965 and will participate in the Champions League for the first time. The Austrians' play-off matches, especially against "Celtic", were very interesting. Having lost the away match 0:3, and moreover, having conceded a goal in the return match as well, "LASK" equalized the aggregate score in the 90th minute and brought the score to 5:1 in extra time.

Azerbaijan's "Sabah" also managed to make a comeback in the return match. A 5:2 victory turned the overall result to 6:4 — it is worth reminding that the last two goals here were also scored in extra time. Pleasingly, the important goal that brought our brothers back into the game was credited to our compatriot Umarali Rakhmonaliev. In their time, our representatives like Shatskikh, Denisov, Irismetov, and later Yakhshiboev, Khusanov participated in this tournament, and now Rakhmonaliev joins their ranks. "Sabah" will compete in the tournament against top opponents like "Borussia", "Manchester United", "Barcelona", and "Arsenal". The team's first match will take place on Thursday evening away against "Manchester United". This means Rakhmonaliev will be the second Uzbek to take the field at "Old Trafford".

Another debutant is Norway's "Viking". Morten Jensen's trainees became national champions last season and bypassed Dinamo Zagreb in the qualifying play-off stage.

As we said above, Round 1 starts today, and this time the matches will also cover Thursday evening. Considering that some matches also start at 21:45 Tashkent time, you have the opportunity to watch 6 matches live in this round alone.

Among today's matches, the games "Club Brugge" – "Aston Villa" (commentator Fakhriddin Turopov) and "Real Madrid" – "Inter" (Hasan Turdialiev) are included in the "Zo‘r TV" television program.

Within Round 1, Uzbek fans can watch the matches "Barcelona" – "Feyenoord" (Hasan Turdialiev), "Liverpool" – "Atletico" (Fakhriddin Turopov), "Fenerbahce" – "Roma" (Abdurakhmon Ergashev), and "Manchester United" – "Sabah" (Hasan Turdialiev) on "Zo‘r TV".

Meanwhile, the matches "AEK" – "LASK" (Ozodbek Sattorov), "Porto" – "Manchester City" (Abdurakhmon Ergashev), "Stuttgart" – "Viking" (Ozodbek Sattorov), and "Napoli" – "Arsenal" (Abdurakhmon Ergashev) will be broadcast on the "Zo‘r TV" application.