Liverpool affected by key UEFA rule change in new Champions League format

After one season away, Liverpool will be back in the UEFA Champions League for the 2024/25 campaign.

Sealing a top-three finish in the Premier League this term - with a couple of games to spare and before even kicking a ball against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend nonetheless - the Reds will take a seat at Europe's top table once again following a Europa League campaign that was ended by finalists Atalanta at the quarter-final stage.

Of course, Liverpool's return to European football's elite club competition does coincide with a brand new format. It's already been announced by UEFA that for the 2024/25 season there will be a single league made up of all 36 competing clubs which means the group stage format  - 32 teams competing being separated into four pots of eight - will be abolished.

As the statement explains: "This will give four more sides the opportunity to compete against the best clubs in Europe."

Despite not winning the trophy since 2019, Liverpool are recognised as one of the best clubs in Europe and their performances in the Champions League and the Europa League in recent seasons are set to come in handy due a key rule change.

Assuming Arsenal and Manchester City don't suffer a collapse in form across the final two gameweeks of the season, the Reds won't return to the Champions League as champions of England but there's a scenario where they are seeded higher than the potential Premier League champions.

Champions League rule changes to affect Liverpool

Under previous rules, Liverpool would not be eligible for a place in Pot One next season as those spots are reserved for the domestic champions from the six nations ranked highest in UEFA’s coefficients as well as the Champions League and Europa League holders.

However, in the new format domestic champions and Europa League holders are no longer guaranteed a place in Pot One. In fact, the top seeds will now be made up of the reigning Champions League winners and the eight sides who rank highest in the UEFA club coefficients.

With 114 points in the coefficients table, Liverpool along with Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan are guaranteed to be in Pot One. With that said, this doesn't mean the Merseyside giants will be afforded a kind draw as two of their eight fixtures will be against sides from the same pot.

This sets up a possibility of facing Manchester City and one of Arsenal and Aston Villa or Tottenham Hotspur - depending on who claims fourth spot - marking the first time teams from the same nation have faced each other before the quarter-final of the Champions League since 2005/2006 when Liverpool were bizarrely denied "country protection".