Ranking matters: Does the new format select the best teams for the knockout phase in the UEFA Champions League?

László Csató; Karel Devriesere; Dries Goossens; András Gyimesi; Roel Lambers; Frits C.R. Spieksma

doi:10.1177/17479541251405330

Ranking matters: Does the new format select the best teams for the knockout phase in the UEFA Champions League?

László Csató
, Karel Devriesere
, Dries Goossens
, András Gyimesi
, Roel Lambers
, Frits C.R. Spieksma

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Starting in the 2024/25 season, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has fundamentally changed the format of its club competitions: the group stage has been replaced by a league phase played by 36 teams in an incomplete round robin format. This makes ranking the teams based on their results challenging because teams play against different sets of opponents, whose strengths vary. In this research note, we apply several well-known ranking methods for incomplete round robin tournaments to the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League league phase in order to check the robustness of the official ranking, as well as to call the attention of organizers to the non-trivial issue of ranking in these competitions. Our results show that it is doubtful whether the currently used point-based system provides the best ranking of the teams.

Original language	English
Journal	International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching
Volume	XX
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/17479541251405330
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 30 Dec 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025

Keywords

Association football
C44
fairness
incomplete round robin tournament
strength of schedules
Z20

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10.1177/17479541251405330

Cite this

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title = "Ranking matters: Does the new format select the best teams for the knockout phase in the UEFA Champions League?",

abstract = "Starting in the 2024/25 season, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has fundamentally changed the format of its club competitions: the group stage has been replaced by a league phase played by 36 teams in an incomplete round robin format. This makes ranking the teams based on their results challenging because teams play against different sets of opponents, whose strengths vary. In this research note, we apply several well-known ranking methods for incomplete round robin tournaments to the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League league phase in order to check the robustness of the official ranking, as well as to call the attention of organizers to the non-trivial issue of ranking in these competitions. Our results show that it is doubtful whether the currently used point-based system provides the best ranking of the teams.",

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AU - Csató, László

AU - Devriesere, Karel

AU - Goossens, Dries

AU - Gyimesi, András

AU - Lambers, Roel

AU - Spieksma, Frits C.R.

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N2 - Starting in the 2024/25 season, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has fundamentally changed the format of its club competitions: the group stage has been replaced by a league phase played by 36 teams in an incomplete round robin format. This makes ranking the teams based on their results challenging because teams play against different sets of opponents, whose strengths vary. In this research note, we apply several well-known ranking methods for incomplete round robin tournaments to the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League league phase in order to check the robustness of the official ranking, as well as to call the attention of organizers to the non-trivial issue of ranking in these competitions. Our results show that it is doubtful whether the currently used point-based system provides the best ranking of the teams.

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KW - Association football

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KW - fairness

KW - incomplete round robin tournament

KW - strength of schedules

KW - Z20

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Ranking matters: Does the new format select the best teams for the knockout phase in the UEFA Champions League?

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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