Why are there six Champions League games on Thursday including Atalanta vs Arsenal?

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal begin their Champions League season… on a Thursday (Photo: Getty)

The new Champions League season is underway but Arsenal’s journey in the competition will begin in an unprecedented manner.

Aston Villa and Liverpool kicked off their UCL campaigns in style on Tuesday night with away wins at Young Boys and AC Milan.

Manchester City will host Inter Milan on Wednesday night, in a repeat of the 2023 final, but the Gunners’ trip to Europa League champions Atalanta will take place on Thursday.

This is especially unusual as traditionally Tuesday and Wednesday are designated for the Champions League, with Europa League and Conference League matches taking place on Thursday.

You might suspect that the increase in fixtures thanks to the revamped format of the competition has brought about this change. But that’s not actually the case.

Why are six Champions League games on Thursday?

As mentioned, the switch from the 32-team group stage to the 36-team league phase means that the number of Champions League matches has risen from 125 to a whopping 189.

But the Thursday fixtures have nothing to do with the congested scheldule.

Arsenal take on Europa League winners Atalanta (Photo: Getty)

Rather, UEFA have decided that each of their three competitions will have an exclusive matchweek this season with no fixtures from the other two, with the week of September 17-19 allocated to the UCL.

This has been done as UEFA want to draw more focus to their less premium competitions with the Europa League’s exclusive week on September 25-26 and the Conference League’s taking place solely on Thursday, December 19.

As for why they chose to spread the UCL fixtures over three days but not do the same with the other competitions remains a mystery.

The Champions League, Europa League and Conference League have been revamped this season (Photo: Getty)

Will there be more Champions League games on Thursday?

No. Unless a last minute change needs to be made, this is the only time this season the Champions League will be on Thursday.

Aside from the exclusive weeks, the format for European games is the same as prior years with the UCL on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the Europa League and Conference League on Thursday.

Which Champions League games are on Thursday?

What has Mikel Arteta said about the change?

This unprecedented change has occurred in a pivotal week for Arsenal who have to navigate four big games in just 11 days.

That run started last Sunday with the north London derby win at Tottenham, followed by Atalanta away on Thursday, a trip to title rivals Manchester City on Sunday and then the beginning of their Carabao Cup campaign against Bolton on Wednesday.

Mikel Arteta, one of many managers to speak out against the congested schedule, seemed resigned when discussing the matter in his post-Spurs press conference.

‘Whether I have [concerns over the fixture list] or not, I’m sure we’re going to play Thursday and Sunday and then Wednesday,’ the Arsenal boss said.

‘It’s what it is. We have to adapt to that if we want to be a top team, a challenging team that is up there.’

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