Pep Guardiola and Manchester City subject to shock UEFA Champions League draw change after major announcement

Manchester City face the prospect of being subject to a major shake-up in the UEFA Champions League next season, should Pep Guardiola’s side qualify.

City, who qualified for the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals with a 6-2 aggregate win over FC Copenhagen in the last-16, are the current holders of the European trophy after last season’s historic 1-0 win over Inter Milan in Istanbul.

Pep Guardiola’s side lifted a maiden Champions League in June, winning the competition as part of an historic treble, after also winning the Premier League and Emirates FA Cup during the 2022/23 campaign.

Manchester City are bidding to reach a third Champions League Final in four years this season, with the showpiece event taking place at London’s Wembley Stadium – a location Guardiola has managed City on 18 previous occasions.

City have reached at least the last-eight of the competition every year since the 2017/18 season, and will discover their path to the final at Wembley Stadium on Friday afternoon, when the quarter-final and semi-final draw takes place.

As well as looking to progress in the Champions League, Manchester City remain amidst a major battle for the Premier League title, with just one point currently separating the Blues, Arsenal and Liverpool in the table.

Guardiola’s side will be confident of qualifying for next season’s edition of the Champions League, where UEFA have announced a dramatic overhaul of the competitions format.

From the 2024/25 season 36 clubs will participate in the Champions League league phase, which replaces the former four-team Group Stages.

UEFA have revealed that teams will play eight matches in the new league phase but will no longer play three opponents twice. Instead, clubs will face fixtures against eight different teams, playing half of those matches at home and half of them away.

The draw has also been subject to a major shake-up as well, with the previous draw to be replaced by computer simulations.

From the 2024/25 season a new hybrid method will be used, whereby clubs will be drawn manually prior to a computer taking over and selecting their eight opponents.

An IT company from England has been selected to create the software according to Kaveh Solhekol, and the draw is expected to take around 35 minutes.