In April 2021, European football faced an existential threat. Twelve of the continent’s biggest clubs announced a plan to break away from the Champions League and form a European Super League, a closed-shop competition designed to guarantee them regular games against each other.

The dirty dozen would not have to qualify and could never be relegated, an affront to the traditions of European football and the principles of sporting fairness. The backlash was swift and fierce, and within days the project was dead in the water.

The Champions League survived, but only after a fundamental overhaul that gave the drivers of the Super League project much of what they wanted. Plans to switch from the old 32-team group stage to a 36-team, Swiss-style league phase had already been cooked up before the Super League news broke, yet the reforms reflected a desire to keep the elite clubs happy. We are now in the third season of this format, enough time to conclude that UEFA’s flagship tournament has been made worse by its introduction.

The league phase forgives more than a priest in Las Vegas

That is not to say the old group stage was perfect. After 30 years, it had grown stale and predictable. Dead rubbers were common, as dominant teams regularly wrapped up qualification early. Surprise early exits became increasingly rare. The tournament only came to life in the knockout rounds.

Yet the league phase has solved hardly any of those issues while creating new ones of its own. No fewer than 144 matches are required to eliminate just 12 teams, most of whom were expected to bow out early anyway.

The league phase forgives more than a priest in Las Vegas. It is possible to lose five out of eight games, as Benfica did last term, and still reach the knockouts. In 2024/25, PSG won only one of their first five outings yet ended up finishing 15th, before going on to lift the trophy. The margin for error is considerable.

The league phase creates an illusion of direct comparison. In most domestic leagues, you play every team twice. In the Champions League, you are ranked alongside sides who have played entirely different opponents. Some clubs have much tougher fixture lists than others, yet this is not (and cannot be) reflected in the standings.

In theory, there are fewer dead rubbers than before. A top-24 finish is all that is needed to extend your participation beyond the league phase, but there are advantages to ending the campaign as high up the table as possible. The top eight progress directly to the round of 16, while teams finishing between ninth and 16th earn home advantage in the second leg of their knockout phase play-off. Yet the reward for finishing in the top eight - the chance to skip a round - is an odd one. UEFA's biggest incentive to excel in its tournament is to play less of it.

The principal reason the league phase was brought in was to offer more blockbuster clashes early on, which were relatively rare in the old system of eight groups of four. This season we have already seen such titanic tussles as Real Madrid vs Inter, Atletico Madrid vs Manchester United, Manchester City vs PSG, PSG vs Barcelona and Bayern Munich vs Arsenal.

At first glance, these fixtures would appear to have delivered the goods. PSG beat both Manchester City and Barcelona 4-2 in pulsating affairs. Bayern and Arsenal drew 2-2 in a game full of quality at the Allianz Arena. There were chances galore in Real Madrid’s 2-1 victory over Inter on matchday one.

Yet for all the entertainment on show, these encounters were much less gripping than comparable contests in the knockout stage. The football was technically impressive, but the lack of jeopardy left many feeling numb. Significance had been stripped away. Without the feeling that it really means something, a meeting of European heavyweights feels like little more than an exhibition game.

The problem is, both UEFA and the continent’s elite clubs will be happy with the new arrangement. More games means more money for everyone involved. And while there is a risk of losing a couple of matches when you have to play the likes of Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, it is unlikely to put qualification at risk. After all, you can amass enough points to advance by beating Sabah, Viking and Slovan Bratislava.

The Champions League knockout stage remains the pinnacle of the club game. Memorable ties become iconic in a way that is impossible in the league phase. The Champions League will be appointment viewing again once we reach the round of 16. Until then, Europe’s biggest tournament feels strangely inconsequential.