A new era dawns on the Champions League come the 2024/25 season. UEFA has reworked the format of the competition, scrapping a sometimes-laborious traditional group stage for an overhauled league phase.
The draw in Monte Carlo last night has made what could be one of the most captivating seasons so far, as teams from all corners of Europe get their destinies on the road to potential glory.
With Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Celtic knowing their fate, let’s look into the draw, the new format, and what fans can expect from the revamped competition.
What’s New in the Champions League?
First things first, let’s address the elephant in the room: the format shake-up.
In a real way, the Champions League has changed, and it’s not some sort of cosmetic rebuild. Instead of the usual 32 teams divided into eight groups, we now have 36 teams in a single “league phase.”
This change in format means more games, more drama, and quite frankly, more football for us to enjoy. The total matches of the competition will go up from 125 to 189-yes, that is loads of midweek football.
Gone is the system of a traditional six-match group stage and home-and-away ties; in its place comes an eight-match schedule for every team, pitting them against eight different opponents.
No longer will teams deal with the same three teams twice; now, clubs will get a wider range of opponents. Each team will have four home and four away matches, which will add variety to ensure fresh challenges on each matchday.
This means that the league phase will conclude at the end of January, in turn extending the calendar for the Champions League well beyond its traditional winter break.
UEFA has made sure to make space by dedicating full weeks to Champions League matches and hence giving it pride of place on Europe’s crowded football calendar.
This is to avoid conflict with other European competition dates such as the Europa League and the Conference League, so all eyes would focus on Europe’s elite when it matters.
But how does all of this work in practice?
The Pots for the 2024/25 Season
Pot 1: Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona;
Pot 2: Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan
Pot 3: Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Dinamo Zagreb, Red Bull Salzburg, Lille, Red Star Belgrade, Young Boys, Celtic
Pot 4: Slovan Bratislava, Monaco, Sparta Prague, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest
So, with the eight-match league phase, every team plays two opponents from each pot-one home and one away.
And fans, no doubt, would have marked the fixtures of standout clashes-plenty of which are possible now due to this new-look format.
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Champions League: The Draw
The 2024/25 Champions League draw was not some affair of balls in a bowl.
For 36 teams present in this competition, UEFA has introduced technology into the process; actually, software to generate each team’s eight opponents.
It quickens the pace of the draw and saves what could have been a logistical nightmare if the draw had to be done completely manually.
Gone were the 1,000 balls and 36 bowls, with the draw a slick 35-minute affair, with the fans treated to a mix of excitement and tension as Europe’s elite clubs found out their fate.
Always, as is the case, there were 36 teams seeded into four pots. Pot 1 included some of the biggest names in football: Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona.
Meanwhile, Pot 4 was made up of lesser-named teams such as Aston Villa, Slovan Bratislava, and Girona.
Each team was drawn to play against teams from other pots for a good mix of top clashes and possible upsets.
ARSENAL: PSG (H), Inter Milan (A), Shakhtar Donetsk (H), Atalanta (A), Dinamo Zagreb (H), Sporting CP (A), Monaco (H), Girona (A)
LIVERPOOL: Real Madrid (H), RB Leipzig (A), Leverkusen (H), AC Milan (A), Lille (H), PSV Eindhoven (A), Bologna (H), Girona (A)
REAL MADRID: Borussia Dortmund (H), Liverpool (A), AC Milan (H), Atalanta (A), RB Salzburg (H), Lille (A), Stuttgart (H), Brest (A)
BARCELONA: Bayern Munich (H), Borussia Dortmund (A), Atalanta (H), Benfica (A), Young Boys (H), Red Star (A), Brest (H), Monaco (A)
BAYERN MUNICH: PSG (H), Barcelona (A), Benfica (H), Shakhtar Donetsk (A), Dinamo Zagreb (H), Feyenoord (A), Slovan Bratislava (H), Aston Villa (A)
MANCHESTER CITY: Inter Milan (H), PSG (A), Club Brugge (H), Juventus (A), Feyenoord (H), Sporting CP (A), Sparta Prague (H), Slovan Bratislava (A)
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN: Man City (H), Bayern Munich (A), Atletico Madrid (H), Arsenal (A), PSV Eindhoven (H), RB Salzburg (A), Girona (H), Stuttgart (A)
Champions League Phase Explanation: How Teams Advance
Moving into a league phase presents teams with the need to negotiate a more diverse range of opponents, challenging squad depth and tactical flexibility.
The stakes are high: the top eight in the final standings go through automatically to the knockout stages, while those finishing between ninth and 24th will have to fight it out in a two-legged play-off for a place in the last 16.
As for those finishing between 25th and 36th, the road stops there—no parachuting into the Europa League or Conference League.
This new format places a premium on consistency: one bad night won’t spell the end to a club’s hopes, just as a run of victories doesn’t guarantee them a spot in the next phase.
Managers will have to balance their squads during an extended calendar, knowing that domestic campaigns will be running concurrently with the Champions League.
Finishing in the top eight means that the playoffs, where anything can happen over two legs, will not be as unpredictable.
This gives the mid-table clubs a lifeline, with intense pressure now bearing down on the team on the ultimate path ahead.
Fixture Dates and Path Ahead
Fixtures get underway on September 17-19, 2024, with the final matchday in the league phase taking place on January 29, 2025.
Knockout play-offs start in February and build to the round of 16 in March, the quarterfinals come in April, followed by semifinals at the end of April/beginning of May.
The grand finale? Put a marker down for the last day of May 2025, as the final of the Champions League will take place at Munich’s Allianz Arena.
A stadium accustomed to bearing witness to dramatic moments, this season’s showpiece promises to be a fitting conclusion to the new-look competition.
Will the New Format Succeed?
And yes, the new format of the Champions League certainly has detractors, such as staunch fans of the old group phase.
But the expanded league stage possesses one inarguable appeal: more meaningful games, more opportunities for upsets, and more chances for minnows to take a swing against Europe’s behemoths.
For the likes of Aston Villa and Celtic, this is an absolute godsend: the chance to rub shoulders with Europe’s best every week and perhaps even shake the apple cart.
To teams like Manchester City and Bayern Munich, there will be no room for complacency, knowing one misstep might prove costly with the threat of slipping into the precarious play-off zone.
The decisions by UEFA to leave specific weeks for the Champions League exclusively allow fans to also focus on their favorite competitions without any distraction.
While all this may be a headache for domestic leagues, from a fan’s perspective, it’s what dreams are made of in midweek football from September to May, fewer breaks, and more drama.
The Europa and Conference Leagues
Those are not all the changes, however. UEFA also redeveloped the Europa League and Conference League, putting them on par with the new format.
Both competitions will move forward with 36 teams, with the Europa League replicating the same eight-game league phase. Meanwhile, the Conference League—its name now changed to the UEFA Conference League—will have six matches in its league phase.
These changes give a more structured shape to the second and third-tier competitions in Europe and thereby increase the number of competitive matches.
While the Champions League is always the main event, the Europa League and Conference League will also benefit from this renovation, as more opportunities will be afforded to clubs from all over Europe to shine.
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Rounding up: The Dawn of a New Era
With the new season of the Champions League just a few weeks ahead, the excitement has reached an all-time high.
The new format means more football, more unpredictability, and more upsets that can change the course for underdogs.
Now that the draw is complete, the road to Munich is clear, but who will reign supreme? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure: this season’s Champions League is a journey unlike any other.
