The group stages of the Champions League could look significantly different in the years to come should today's meeting between the major European leagues go well.

As reported by ESPN, the continent's top divisions are due to discuss UEFA's plans to revamp the first stage of the Champions League proper today amid concerns that the competition's leading clubs often qualify from their groups with games to spare.

It has become a noticeable trend, rendering many of the Champions League games at the end of each calendar year largely pointless.

UEFA want to revamp the group stage in a way that would create more games but also more games that matter, hence providing greater revenues and more fan engagement. 

And their means of doing so would be by replacing the current system of eight mini-groups with one large league table for all the clubs involved in the group stage. They would then play ten games each and qualification for the knockouts would be determined by their league standing. 

How many teams will be involved in the group stages, however, remains open to some speculation. While ESPN report that today's meeting is centred around the idea of continuing a 32-team tournament, The Telegraph gave a slightly different interpretation yesterday. 

The newspaper claims that the Champions League could become 36 teams after the current broadcast contract expires in 2024 - that enlarged group stage would see the first eight teams immediately qualify for the knockouts, and then the teams ranked ninth to 24th enter a playoff. 

The Premier League is believed to have discussed the potential changes yesterday, in addition to a new proposal that could see as many as six English clubs qualify for the Champions League in the future. 

The system would still determine qualification for all European tournaments by domestic league position (first to seventh for the Premier league), but UEFA can then push the clubs with the strongest historic co-efficient up into their most elite competition.

For example, if Manchester United were to miss out on top four place but still qualify for the Europa League or the incoming UEFA Conference League by finishing between fifth and seventh, their co-efficient could qualify them for the Champions League instead. 

That will come down to a comparison of the strength of co-efficients relative to clubs finishing in the same position in other European Leagues, but it essentially means that the continent's most prestigious and historically successful teams will have a greater chance of still qualifying for the tournament even if they endure substandard domestic seasons. 

However, they would still need to finish in the top seven to have their co-efficients considered, and no more than six English clubs would be allowed to qualify for the Champions League in any given season.  

The Premier League is said to have discussed the proposals, just as the European Leagues will do as a collective today, although no decisions were made by the English top flight.

Both ESPN and The Telegraph suggest that there is still a lack of clarity about the financial distribution mechanisms for the new-look Champions League, and inevitably that could prove to be something of a sticking point. 

The European Leagues are also keen to stress today that any Champions League expansion - such as a 36-team competition - must not impact domestic football, for example by having European fixtures at weekends.

It remains to be seen whether all of the plans go ahead, but if UEFA can receive backing from the Premier League and its continental counterparts, we could be watching a very different Champions League in 2024.