Champions League 2024-25: When Is The Draw? How Will The New Format Work?
UEFA competitions have evolved down the decades, kicking off with the European Champions Cup in 1955 – before it became the iconic Champions League – while the UEFA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup morphed into the Europa League.
The formats that exist today have become a familiar part of our midweek routines, as continental football takes centre stage on several Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays throughout the year.
However, the 2024-25 campaign will bring major change to how these much-loved tournaments are run, and a fresh look at the Champions League is forthcoming.
The season will mark the first of a new 36-team league phase and subsequent playoff round before the usual knockout action unfolds.
When is the Champions League draw?
The draw for the new league phase of the Champions League will take place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Thursday, August 29.
Rather than each team being drawn in separate groups as has been the case in past years, this year the draw will throw up eight opponents for each club from the overall 36-team league.
The 36 teams will be split into four pots of nine teams, with two opponents being drawn from each of those pots and the seeding for those pots depending on each club’s UEFA coefficient ranking.
Another big change will come in how the draw is made, with the old format of notable former players choosing balls from a bowl – and all of the preamble that comes with it – no longer the sole determining factor.
UEFA calculates that an entirely manual draw could take up to four hours to complete given that almost 1,000 balls would need to be drawn, so instead it will be down to automated software to randomly allocate each team’s eight opponents.
Starting with Pot A, teams will still be manually selected from a bowl, but the computer then takes over to allocate that team their eight fixtures, as well as determining which ones will be at home and away.
Which teams will qualify?
There are to be 36 teams in the initial league phase – of which more later – with 25 automatically earning a spot by virtue of their domestic league finish.
The holders of the Champions League and Europa League trophies are also both guaranteed a place, while two further clubs are taken from UEFA’s ‘European Performance’ rankings.
The final seven teams are determined via qualifying, which is currently ongoing.
How does the league phase work?
Until last season, the Champions League group stage had 32 clubs divided into eight groups of four, with the top two from each progressing to the post-Christmas knockout rounds.
From 2024-25 onwards, though, a total of 36 will participate within a single league, which sees all competing clubs ranked together – earning three points for a win, one for a draw.
Under this new format, each team plays eight matches, and rather than playing three opponents twice like before, they will instead face fixtures against eight different teams: half are at home; half away.
Every club will be placed in one of four seeding pots – based on their ranking – then drawn to play against two different teams from each of those pots, making a total of eight.
Who goes through to the knockout phase?
This part has caused much consternation, as the former clarity of which 16 teams would progress has been replaced by a format unfamiliar to most football fans.
Put simply as possible, the top eight teams in the final league table – after eight games played – qualify automatically for the last 16; teams finishing from 9th to 24th in the rankings must compete in a two-legged playoff to join them.
Where does that leave the sides that finish 25th to 36th? They will all be eliminated, with no second-chance entry into the Europa League.
What about changes to the knockout stages?
Clubs that finish between 9th and 16th are to be seeded in the playoff draw, so they are guaranteed to meet a team placed between 17th and 24th. Furthermore, they will benefit from having the second leg at home.
The eight playoff winners then progress to the last 16, where they will each face one of the top eight teams from the league stage.
From the last 16 onwards, the existing format of two-legged knockout rounds is unchanged.
When will the games be played?
In short, all matches up until the final will still take place in midweek – although there is a slight change in the calendar.
League fixtures are now going to be played between September and January – to fit the extra two games in – while each of the three UEFA club competitions has one ‘exclusive match week’.
Usually, Champions League games are on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but in the Champions League’s exclusive match week, they will be played on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays too.
On the final matchday of the new league phase, all games will be played simultaneously.
