Why are Champions League games being played on Thursday? Official reason explained

The UEFA Champions League is back with a bang, and it’s bringing some significant changes along with it. Arsenal fans may have been surprised to find that their opening fixture – a challenging away game against Europa League winners Atalanta in Italy – won’t be taking place in the usual Tuesday or Wednesday slot.

Instead, the Gunners will play on Thursday evening, just three days before they head to the Etihad to take on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in a crucial Premier League clash. This also comes hot on the heels of their 1-0 victory in the north London derby.

Fans of other clubs might be wondering if they’ll also have to adjust to watching their teams play on Thursdays – a day typically reserved for Europa and Conference League matches. However, this isn’t the case.

As part of the new league format, UEFA has announced that each of their three competitions will have an exclusive matchweek during which no fixtures from the other two tournaments will be played. This week has been been allocated as Matchweek 1 for the Champions League, meaning only UCL fixtures will be played.

In a departure from tradition, UEFA has decided to spread these matches across three days instead of the usual two, hence the inclusion of Thursday games, reports the Mirror. However, this unique game week is a one-off and won’t be repeated. Both the Europa League and Europa Conference League will also have their exclusive weeks for matches.

The Champions League revamp doesn’t end there. Teams will play eight group matches, four at home and four away, but these ties will all be against different sides, not home and away clashes. Instead of the traditional eight groups, each team has been placed into a single league.

The top eight finishers will automatically qualify for the round of 16. Teams finishing from ninth to 24th will face a two-legged knock-out phase. If they win, they’ll progress to face one of the waiting teams.

Those who fall to 25th place or lower out of the 36 will be eliminated outright from the competition, with no option to drop down to lesser tournaments as there has been in previous years.

Mikel Arteta’s Gunners aren’t the only English side in action this week as they head to Bergamo. Aston Villa are off to Switzerland to take on Young Boys in an earlier 17:45 tie on Tuesday, while Liverpool are set to play AC Milan later that evening. Manchester City will also welcome Inter Milan, the team they faced in the final two years ago, on Wednesday night.