Sports
Three ways the Champions League format could be fixed
We’re midway through Year 2 of the revamped UEFA Champions League, and already we’ve witnessed the dramatic impact of the 2024 switch to a 36-team, Swiss-model league phase unlike anything seen in Europe before.
To take one example, the final matchday of the league phase this year featured Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin delivering an iconic moment, as he scored a 98th-minute header against Real Madrid to stave off elimination and push the Portuguese club to the knockout rounds. On the flip side, the competition’s format is now so confusing that Trubin himself didn’t know how vital his goal was for Benfica’s Champions League hopes.
It’s clear that there’s no perfect solution, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try! With the knockout playoff round taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, we decided to ask our writers: How would you fix the Champions League format, within the bounds of what might be possible?
Here are three fascinating proposals from Mark Ogden, Gabriele Marcotti and Bill Connelly, ranging from innovative to subtly effective.
Two mini-leagues, one gigantic playoff round
UEFA has introduced several iterations of the Champions League since overhauling the old European Cup format in the early-1990s. Despite the tweaks and changes, the competition is still the pinnacle of club soccer, and they haven’t managed to break it just yet.
But the knockout stages are where the magic happens. That’s part of the problem UEFA must overcome, because no matter how many times they reboot the group stages, those early rounds will never have the jeopardy and excitement of classic two-leg, winner-take-all encounters.
The only reason Matchday 8 of the league phase was so enthralling was because it had a knockout feel to it, with Benfica’s 4-2 win against Real Madrid — courtesy of goalkeeper Trubin’s stoppage-time goal — as good as any knockout tie.
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With all that in mind, how do you fix the format to inject some sense of vibrancy to the group/league stage? We are never going back to straight knockouts from the first round — there’s too much risk and not enough guaranteed money for the top clubs to ever sanction that — so there has to be some form of group stage.
So why not split the league phase in two and have two leagues feeding into the knockout stages, in a similar fashion to the AFC and NFC feeding into the NFL playoffs? Instead of a bloated 36-team league, make it two 18-team sections with only the top two in each guaranteed a round of 16 spot. The remaining 24, 12 in each section, would go into a supersize playoff round — with an open draw!
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Leboeuf: Benfica’s goalkeeper scoring was a Champions League miracle
Jürgen Klinsmann and Frank Leboeuf react to Anatoliy Trubin’s last minute goal to send Benfica to the Champions League playoffs.
Let’s ensure that only the best teams have an advantage, so if you finish outside the top two, you could face anyone in the playoff. You could end up playing Real Madrid or Bodo/Glimt, but it would be down to the luck of the draw rather than a position-based seeding. And all teams would still play eight league phase games, so there would be no reduction in match revenue
It still wouldn’t be an ideal format. Too many teams would still be able to qualify with a mediocre league phase, and you could argue there would be just as many relatively meaningless games, but I want Arsenal vs. PSG or Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich in November to matter more than they do right now. Having only two automatic spots available would sharpen the tension at the top, and what we all want to see is the big guns playing as though they mean it. — Mark Ogden
Clubs get to pick their opponents
We’re asked to be realistic here, so bear that in mind. We’re not going back to the one league/one team days, and we’re not going back to purely straight knockouts. (Besides, we effectively have a separate straight knockout tournament after the group stage anyway.)
I don’t think there’s much wrong with the current format, but rather, the main problem is with the seeding. Namely, that it’s not particularly meaningful!
Last year, Liverpool topped the group stage, and their “reward” for doing so was a showdown with Paris Saint-Germain, who finished 15th (and knocked the Reds out). Then there was Real Madrid, who finished 11th and ended up playing Manchester City (22nd). Sure, both teams underachieved, but that was “punishment” for both. Had Real Madrid finished just one place lower, they would have faced — no disrespect — Celtic. Who would you rather play?
When we rank teams in the group stage by single points (or, worse, goal difference), it’s not exactly a scientific assessment of their relative strength. So let’s make the seedings mean something: Let clubs pick their opponents.
How would it work? Real Madrid finished ninth, making them the top-ranked team in the knockout round playoffs. Instead of being forced to play the 24th team (Benfica), they can choose any playoff team. Next up, Internazionale in 10th … they too can pick their poison.
Maybe Real Madrid don’t want to see Jose Mourinho again so soon after the fact. Maybe Inter, who are matched up with Bodo/Glimt, don’t want to travel north of the Arctic Circle to play on a plastic pitch in February. Whatever the reason, it would give a club a meaningful reward for finishing higher, in addition to creating a TV event: Imagine giving a representative from each team 60 seconds “on the clock” to pick their opponent. Plus, it would naturally ensure the bigger, better teams are kept apart for as long as possible.
Then you’d repeat this in the round of 16: Arsenal get first pick, followed by Bayern Munich, and so on. While we’re at it, let the higher-ranked team decide if they want to play home or away first. We assume playing at home second is an advantage, but maybe some would rather not, whether due to fixture congestion or style of play or some other reason. Heck, let them decide if they want to play Tuesday or Wednesday, too.
These “sporting advantages” are things you can earn on the pitch and are actually meaningful. They make it less likely that late in the group stage, clubs are going to mail it in or settle for a draw, once they know they’re not making top eight. — Gabriele Marcotti
Actually, the new format is … mostly fine, but let’s make the seeding more concrete
Honestly, I think the biggest change we can make is one of mindset. A giant, eight-match league phase offers minimal jeopardy, yes, but that created some of the best stories of this season. With eight matches, Benfica and Bodo/Glimt were able to weather some early setbacks and play their way into the competition. Hell, Pafos and Union Saint-Gilloise nearly did the same. They played better as they got their footing, and that lack of jeopardy actually benefited us as viewers. Treating the league phase as a true season — albeit a small one — with time for twists and turns and late surprises makes this format awfully fun, even if we know no one’s going to be eliminated in October.
If we’re insisting on making changes, however, I have a couple of small ones.
First, for the countries that provide four or more competitors, I would allow for at least one match against a domestic opponent in the league phase. If we’re going to live in a world in which the Premier League makes all the money and can afford most of the best players, then it actually benefits them even further to not have to play each other. It certainly would have been trickier for Premier League teams to end up with five of the top eight spots in the table if, say, Chelsea had faced a trip to Arsenal, or Manchester City had to play its bogey team (Tottenham Hotspur). And hey, if we end up with a random extra El Clasico or Der Klassiker dropped into the November slate, who would complain?
Meanwhile, though there are plenty of Americanized touches getting proposed, I would actually go even further in one specific area. Forget getting rid of seeding — I’d hard-seed everything!
There’s a potentially huge difference between drawing, say, seventh-place Sporting CP (currently 16th in Opta’s power rankings) and eighth-place Manchester City (second) this year, or 17th-place Borussia Dortmund (19th) and 18th-place Olympiacos (45th). Last year, there was an immense difference in top-seeded Liverpool drawing 15th-place PSG instead of 16th-place Benfica, or 21st-place Celtic instead of 22nd-place Man City. There’s already quite a bit of randomness baked into how the final table looks — we don’t need one last burst of it with the draw. Let the table drive everything: In the round of 16, the first-place team plays the winner of No. 16 and No. 17, No. 2 plays the winner of No. 15 and No. 18, et cetera.
Those aren’t huge changes because, honestly, I don’t think much needs changing. We play a miniseason long enough to have serious plot twists and evolutions, we have a couple of wild matchdays at the end of the league phase, then we have a giant bracket leading us through a few months of action. The competition’s expansion was driven almost entirely by the endless quest for more money, but as tends to happen in this sport, the craven pursuit of cash has given us more fun soccer to watch. — Bill Connelly
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The New York Islanders have fired head coach Patrick Roy despite being in a tight playoff race.
Islanders GM Mathieu Darche announced the change from Roy to Peter DeBoer, who was fired by the Dallas Stars in June 2025.
The move comes with just four games left in the regular season for the Islanders, who sit on a four-game losing streak entering Sunday. And the streak comes with seven losses in their last 10 games.
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Head coach Patrick Roy of the New York Islanders manages bench duties during the first period against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, on March 21, 2026. (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
As the NHL standings sit entering Sunday, the Islanders, who were once comfortably in position to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs, sit third in the Metropolitan division with 89 points, which would give them a slot if the season ended today.
However, the Philadelphia Flyers (88 points) and Columbus Blue Jackets (88) are gunning for that third and final divisional spot in the few games remaining. As a result, the Islanders are making the surprise change in hopes DeBoer can get them into the playoffs over the next week.
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Roy’s exit comes after a loss where the Carolina Hurricanes, who already secured a playoff spot, out shot them 40-16 in a 4-3 loss for New York.
The Islanders are not the only NHL team making a change at head coach with just days left in the regular season. The Vegas Golden Knights axed Bruce Cassidy from his role, hiring veteran coach John Tortorella on an interim basis last week.
Patrick Roy coaches the New York Islanders during a game against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Feb. 5, 2026. (Rich Graessle/NHLI)
Like the Islanders, the Golden Knights (86) have the third and final position in their division, though the race is a bit more comfortable for Vegas with a five-point lead over the Los Angeles Kings.
But, while Tortorella is an interim move for Vegas, the Islanders are keeping DeBoer intact heading into the 2026-27 campaign.
DeBoer has been head coach of five different franchises over his extensive coaching career. He owns a career 662-447-152 record in 1,261 games with the Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils, San Jose Sharks, Golden Knights and the Stars, who he led for the past three seasons before his firing.
Head coach Patrick Roy of the New York Islanders looks on during a game against the Philadelphia Flyers at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., on April 3, 2026. (Steven Ryan/NHLI)
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DeBoer wasn’t with a team this season, but he’s stepping up for the opportunity to help turn the tides on Long Island, as the Islanders hope to make the playoffs after missing out the previous two seasons.
While DeBoer hasn’t coached this season, he was a part of Jon Cooper’s Team Canada staff for the Milan Cortina Olympics earlier this year.
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For months, Inter Miami advertised Nu Stadium with one simple message: “We’re coming home.'” On Saturday, in a 2-2 draw with Austin FC that was the first official game at the stadium, the club finally made good on its promise the only way it knows how.
The arena was covered with pink lights before the match, while a tifo in the stands read “Aquí empieza una nueva eraqui,” meaning “Today starts a new era.” In the center of the pitch, Lionel Messi got the game underway and within 10 minutes, he scored the club’s first goal there in front of a stand that bears his name.
“To see this stadium come to life after years and years of trying to get this stadium up and running in Miami, is something that’s very special,” club co-owner and founder David Beckham said.
“I came to America and the MLS 20 years ago, and I made a lot of promises. Twelve years ago, I made a lot of promises again, announcing that I was coming to Miami. Today, it’s just a dream come true for us… Today I stand in our new home, we are champions of MLS and have the best player in the history of the game playing in Miami.”
It has been a long time coming for everyone involved with Inter Miami, but particularly for Beckham. His dream to build a Miami Dade-based stadium began in 2014, moments after MLS commissioner Don Garber officially awarded Beckham the expansion franchise. He envisioned a waterfront destination based in the heart of the city to build a 20,000-30,000-seater stadium.
Beckham’s first bid targeted land next to the Kaseya Center, the Miami Heat’s home, with views of Biscayne Bay and Downtown, but his initial efforts were quickly shut down by the city, forcing him to unsuccessfully chase leads in Little Havana and Overtown.
By 2018, Jorge and Jose Mas, founders of the Miami-based construction and engineering company MasTec, joined Inter Miami’s ownership and the search for a venue.
With no lease agreement in sight and the team’s MLS debut fast approaching, the new ownership group decided to remodel Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale as a temporary solution. After an almost $100 million facelift that included a training facility, several practice fields and a redone 20-000 seat stadium, Inter Miami prepared to debut at the then-newly named DRV PNK stadium.
But the push for a permanent home never stopped.
Beckham and the Mas brothers began conversations for the site of the Melreese golf course in 2018 after 60% of voters approved the referendum that authorized the city to negotiate and execute a 99-year lease. It then took another four years to be officially approved, but Beckham and the Mas brothers finally secured the site they craved.
“This is a dream come true,” club co-owner Jorge Mas said. “This has been a stadium that was born from a dream, which was to create a first-class stadium in my hometown to celebrate football. Miami is today a capital of the world, and it will be the capital of football, especially with our club, with our captain, Leo Messi.”
On the field, Austin FC spoiled the party early on as winger Guilherme Biro scored the first official goal at Nu Stadium in the sixth minute. That was until Messi got proceedings back on track with a well-weighted header. For the first time, but certainly not the last, the entire stadium chanted Messi’s name.
Beckham and Mas got their dream moment, but not the dream finish: It wouldn’t end without further setback: winger Jayden Nelson restored Austin’s early in the second half. It wasn’t until the final minutes of the game that a goal from Miami striker Luis Suárez, who converted at the back post from a corner, managed to salvage a point.
Suarez is one of the best players of his generation, but he has struggled with osteoarthritis in recent seasons and hadn’t scored in a competitive game since Oct. 11, 2025. His strike, then, came at just the right time. He could have had a winner moments later, too: Messi fired a free-kick at goal as the game ticked towards stoppage-time, and the ball bounced off the post before Suarez nodded it home. However, he was ruled offside, and the goal was disallowed.
A draw wasn’t the ideal start that Miami had in mind, but, like the rest of the Miami Freedom Park sports complex surrounding Nu Stadium, this team is a work in progress. “I believed in Miami, and Miami believes in us,” Beckham said.
For now, Miami will continue to seek its first victory in a city and a stadium they can finally call home.
Steven Smith struck a fifty as Multan Sultans clinched a six-wicket victory over Quetta Gladiators in the 13th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11 at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday.
Set to chase a modest 167-run target, the 2021 champions comfortably knocked the winning runs for the loss of four wickets and 15 balls to spare.
The Sultans got off to a high-flying start to the run chase as their opening pair of Sahibzada Farhan and Smith raised 71 runs in just five overs before Alzarri Joseph dismissed the former on the first delivery of the subsequent over.
Farhan made a handy contribution with a brisk 32 off just 14 deliveries, comprising four fours and two sixes.
The Sultans suffered another setback an over later as Josh Philippe fell victim to Saud Shakeel after scoring a 15-ball 18.
With the scoreboard reading 96/2 in eight overs, Shan Masood joined Smith in the middle, and the duo knitted a quick 40-run stand to put the Sultans within touching distance before the latter was eventually dismissed by Hasan Nawaz in the 14th over.
Smith remained the top-scorer for Sultans with a swashbuckling 53 off 35 deliveries, studded with seven fours and a six.
Nawaz struck again in his next over, trapping Arafat Minhas (six) lbw to further reduce Sultans to 148/4.
But Masood remained firm and steered the Sultans over the line in the 18th over with an unbeaten 46 off 30 deliveries with the help of two sixes and as many fours.
Hasan was the pick of the bowlers for the Gladiators, taking two wickets for 17 runs in his two overs, while Alzarri Joseph and captain Saud Shakeel could make one scalp apiece.
Sultans captain Ashton Turner’s decision to field first paid dividends as the 2019 champions could accumulate 166/7 in their 20 overs despite an anchoring half-century by captain Saud Shakeel.
The Gladiators got off to a shaky start to their innings as they lost both their openers, Khawaja Nafay (12) and Shamyl Hussain (two), inside three overs with just 15 runs on the board.
Following the early stutter, Hasan Nawaz (20) joined captain Saud in the middle, and the duo attempted to launch a recovery by putting together an anchoring 55-run partnership for the third wicket, which culminated with the former’s dismissal off Arafat Minhas in the 10th over.
Minhas struck again in the 10th over, dismissing Rilee Rossouw (one) and further reducing the 2019 champions to 72/4 just one delivery before the halfway mark.
Meanwhile, Saud stood his ground firm and knitted another crucial partnership for the Gladiators – a 47-run stand for the fifth wicket with Jacobs – until eventually falling victim to Nawaz on the first delivery of the 17th over.
The skipper remained the top-scorer for the Gladiators with a valiant 56 off 41 deliveries, comprising six fours and a six.
Nawaz inflicted a further blow on the Gladiators’ batting charge in the pulsating 17th over by dismissing Tom Curran, who could muster one off three deliveries.
Jacobs, on the other hand, batted until the end but fell agonisingly short of a well-deserved half-century as he made an unbeaten 49 off 31 deliveries, laced with four fours and three sixes.
Nawaz spearheaded the Sultans’ bowling charge with three wickets for 30 runs in his four overs, followed by Minhas with two, while captain Turner chipped in with one scalp.
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