As the 2023/24 Champions League Group Stage draws to a close, another chapter in the varied formats of the group stage, the League component that gave the competition its rebrand in 1992 from the previous Champions Cup, will draw to a close. For 2024/25 we will have the Swiss system to look forward to and enjoy.

Here’s a rundown and a trip down memory lane on all evolutions of the group stage format over the last thirty years.

1991/92 and 1992/93: Eight teams (Two groups of four with winners playing in the final)

The 1992/93 season was the first to see the term ‘Champions League’ introduced but the format stayed the same from the season a previous, the first year in which a group stage was introduced.

Originally the league stages came at the end of the knockouts, replacing the quarter and semi-finals with the two groups of four. The inaugural participants were: Sampdoria, Red Star Belgrade, Anderlecht, Panathanikos, Barcelona, Sparta Prague, Benfica and Dynamo Kyiv.

Barcelona and Sampdoria would emerge as group winners and meet in the final at Wembley. The Catalans would end their long wait for a European title courtesy of Ronald Koeman’s extra time free-kick in the 1992 final at Wembley.

The term ‘Champions League’ initially referred to the group stage only, when it was introduced for 1992/93. The rights to the matches were sold as a package, increasing revenues for all participants with the star branding and official anthem making their first appearances.

Marseille and Milan met in the 1993 final which of course would be remembered as the French side were caught up in a match-fixing controversy, which would deny them the chance to defend their title. As their offenses were restricted to league games only, they were not stripped of their European title.

1993/94: Eight teams (Two groups of four, semi-finals and final)

The 1993/94 season kept the same format as the two previous seasons but added semi-finals after the group stage. Uniquely, for the first time outside of the final, and not repeated until the Covid affected season in 2020, these semi’s were one-off matches, hosted by the group winner.

Milan would defeat Monaco (who took the spot of Marseille) and Barcelona ease past Porto to set up a classic final match up between the Italian and Spanish champions. The game would go down in history, but because of it’s one-sided nature as Fabio Capello’s Rossoneri destroyed Johan Cruyff’s dream team, 4-0 in Athens.

1994/95, to 1996/97: Eight teams (Four groups of four, quarter finals, semi-finals and final)

1994 saw the tournament fully rebrand to the Champions League and the group stages doubled to four groups and quarter-finals were added. The first season is one of the most iconic in the history of the competition with Ajax winning their fourth title. A George Weah inspired PSG reached the semi-finals and an English club, Manchester United, participated for the first time.

The following year possibly laid the groundwork for future changes to come as the group stages as Panathanikos, Nantes, Legia Warsaw and Spartak Moscow all advanced from Groups A and B, whilst C and D saw Juventus, Dortmund, Ajax and Real Madrid progress. Ajax would return to the final but lose out to the formidable Juventus side who would win on penalties in Rome.

A significant change occurred for the 96/97 season as restrictions on foreign players were lifted by virtue of the Bosman ruling. Borussia Dortmund would win their first ever European title, with a memorable 3-1 over Juventus. Like Juve the season before they would win at the home of one of their domestic rivals, FC Bayern, as the final was held at the Olympiastadion.

1997/98 and 1998/99 Seasons: 24 teams (Six groups of four, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final)

Historians partial to the European Cup and critical of the bloated format of today’s Champions League may point to the 1997/98 season as the pivotal moment in the tournament’s history when the ideals of the original founders, of a fair crack for every nation, were tossed by the wayside. For the first time, eight runners-up from the domestic leagues of the top eight ranked nations were admitted. The ‘Champions’ Cup, was no more.

Though the group stage was expanded to six groups of 24 teams, the number of qualifiers remained the same, thus only the group winners and two runners-up would advance. The outstanding performers in the group stage were Dynamo Kyiv who topped a group featuring Barcelona, Newcastle and PSV Eindhoven. They would be knocked out by Juventus in the Quarter-Finals.

Germany would be the first nation to have three representatives in the tournament and all three; Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen would qualify for the quarter-finals. Dortmund would advance but exit in the semis to Real Madrid. It would be a momentous season for Los Blancos, as they finally clinched their seventh European Cup, after a 32-year wait. Predrag Mijatovic with the only goal in the final against Juventus.

The following year would see another heavyweight of the European Cup’s early years make their return to the pinnacle of the European game as Manchester United clinched the treble in their epic win over FC Bayern at the Nou Camp. United had been building experience in the competition over the previous seasons but it was ironic their finest hour was only possible because of the change in rules. United had finished runners-up to Arsenal in the 1997/98 Premier League season.

1999/00 – 2002/03: 32 Teams (1st Phase: Eight groups of four; 2nd Phase: Four groups of four)

The 1999/00 season saw the group stages expand to its current size of 32 teams. This meant four teams now entered from the top three ranked domestic leagues (at the time Italy Germany and Spain), with a sliding scale down to one for the leagues ranked outside the top fifteen.

The top two in each group qualified into a second group phase, four groups of four and for the first time a trapdoor was provided for teams who finished third in their group to participate in the UEFA Cup and inevitably two of those sides would mean in the final as Galatasaray defeated Arsenal.

In theory the second group stage sounded like returning to the spirit of the original group concept, with four heavyweights battling it out but in reality it led to group stage fatigue with teams and fans just looking forward to getting to the knock-out stages. Rarely were there the supergroups that might have been expected.

It did however continue a trend of return of the original superclubs. During the four seasons the tournament was won by Real Madrid (’00 and ’02), Bayern Munich (’01) and AC Milan (’03). It also saw two out of the four finals feature teams from the same country – 2000 (Real v Valencia) and 2003 (Milan v Juventus). The essence of old European Cup was fading into the past.

2003/04 – 2023/24: 32 Teams (1st Phase: Eight groups of four; second round, quarter finals, semi-finals and final)

In possibly one of the rarest occasions in elite level football governance, UEFA made a decision to reduce the competition’s size (number of games) and add an extra level of jeapordy for the best teams. By removing the second group phase and adding the last 16 knock-out round they in effect created a split level competition, the second-part of which replicated the original European Cup.

It would have an immediate effect with Jose Mourinho’s Porto defeating Monaco in the 2004 final, and outsiders Liverpool winning the 2005 final, with the miracle in Istanbul. Liverpool however illustrated the path the tournament would take as the shear number of teams from the major leagues suffocated the opportunities for those from lesser domestic competitions. 4th place finishers in the 2004 Premier League season and 5th in 2005. Though their comeback was the greatest of all the finals ever played, there was no real belief that they were the best team in Europe that season.

There have been a few tweaks to the qualification process over the years but by and large this has benefitted the big boys yet again. And now we are left with a situation in which the ‘Champions’ League allows only guaranteed entry to 11 of the 55 UEFA associations represented and 50% of the places going to the top four leagues.

There are still some terrific matches in the group stages and in fact this season has been one of the better ones in recent memories but in effect it has become not much more than glamourised exhibition fixtures for the biggest clubs. The teams who advance can all be predicted to a high degree of success based on their wage bills. Frequent knockout punches have turned into irregular bloody noses. Ambitions of glory are long gone, as most of Europe fights for their share of the scraps from the top table.