With qualification full and the pots set, the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League season is upon us, however it would start on a really completely different observe than in years previous. Thursday’s draw unofficially kicks off a season stuffed with intrigue and uncertainty, and never solely due to the perennial query of which workforce will elevate Europe’s prime membership prize within the spring. UEFA will introduce a brand new format this season, switching to a Swiss-system match that can take middle stage at this yr’s draw. The Champions League is swapping out the group stage for the league section, including 4 extra groups and two extra video games to the schedule within the course of. Because of this, this yr’s draw won’t solely map out every workforce’s path to the Champions League remaining in Munich but additionally supply a primary glimpse at how the new-look competitors will work.
Here is what it is advisable know earlier than tuning in.
Methods to watch
Introducing the brand new format
The brand new-look Champions League will start with the league section, which begins on acquainted terrain by putting groups in 4 pots based mostly on their UEFA membership coefficients. (The lone exception are reigning champions Actual Madrid, who have been robotically positioned into Pot 1 after successful a file fifteenth Champions League title in June, however would have possible earned that placement anyway.)
Every workforce will likely be drawn towards eight completely different opponents, two from every pot, and can play 4 of these video games at dwelling and 4 away. This marks the primary time groups within the Champions League will face groups from their very own pot, a change supposed to extend the competitiveness and leisure worth of the competitors in its earlier levels. Groups will likely be ranked in a league desk in the course of the league section, with the highest 24 advancing to the knockout levels.
The knockout levels of the Champions League may even have a distinct look this season. The highest eight groups after the league section will advance straight to the spherical of 16, whereas groups ranked 9 via 24 will sq. off towards one another within the knockout spherical playoffs for an opportunity to play within the spherical of 16. The match performs out in a well-known format from there as groups compete to play within the Might 31 remaining at Munich’s Allianz Enviornment.
League section pots
- Pot 1: Actual Madrid, Manchester Metropolis, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona
- Pot 2: Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Membership Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan
- Pot 3: Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Crimson Bull Salzburg, Younger Boys, Celtic, Dinamo Zagreb, Lille, Crvena Zvezda
- Pot 4: Monaco, Sparta Prague, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest, Slovan Bratislava
League section matchdays
- Sport 1: Sept. 17-19
- Sport 2: Oct. 1-2
- Sport 3: Oct. 22-23
- Sport 4: Nov. 5-6
- Sport 5: Nov. 26-27
- Sport 6: Dec. 10-11
- Sport 7: Jan. 21-22 (2025)
- Sport 8: Jan. 29 (2025)
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