Celtic and rangers on alert as uefa to make champions league rule change

EUROPEAN FOOTBALL’S GOVERNING BODY ARE REPORTEDLY SET TO MAKE A CHANGE TO THE FORMAT NEXT SEASON 08:36, 02 Jun 2025 Celtic played their part in the revamped Champions League and are looking

to return - with rivals Rangers hoping to join them. And if the Glasgow giants succeed in getting through their respective qualifying routes they could encounter yet another change. Just one

year on from the new-look premier competition which saw 36 teams complete in a league phase, European football’s governing body are reportedly set to tweak it. And it stems from a gripe

Arsenal had last season where teams weren’t rewarded for finishing higher in the league from the quarter finals onwards. Teams who finished in the top eight and qualified directly for the

round of 16 were drawn against lower ranked teams at home in the second leg - but there was no reward in the last eight or semi-finals. That meant that despite finishing well above Real

Madrid and PSG in the League Phase standings, Mikel Arteta’s men still had to play both second legs of the quarter-final and semi-final away from home. Article continues below Had UEFA

reseeded per round or awarded home-leg advantage to the higher-ranked team, Arsenal would have hosted both return legs. But home advantage was decided by random draw due to UEFA's

preference for an 'open draw’. Arsenal weren’t the only club to fall foul of the ‘open’ draw system: Barcelona at home for the first leg of their quarter-final against Borussia

Dortmund, despite finishing second in the league phase. But German publication Bild report that teams that secure a spot within the top eight league positions - and qualifying automatically

for the knockout phase - will reap benefits not only in the round of 16 but also in the quarter-finals of the tournament. The UEFA Club Competitions Committee met and reportedly agreed on

the proposed change before the Champions League final – and final approval is now 'considered a formality’. Other changes were also considered, including proceeding directly to penalty

shoot-outs instead of extra time and preventing two clubs from the same nation from facing off until the competition's later stages. No consensus was reached on those ideas, though.

Article continues below Celtic will enter the Champions at the play-off round stage while rivals Rangers must negotiate three qualifiers if they are to dine at European football’s top table.