UEFA Champions League draw in details

The 2024/25 season of UEFA Champions League gets underway next month in a new format. It will feature more teams and more games between top sides.

The structure of the new 36-team ‘Swiss model’ is designed to ensure greater competition and more matches between top teams.

UEFA President, Aleksander Čeferin, said the switch to the new system came after “a unanimous decision of the UEFA Executive Committee, with the European Club Association, European Leagues and national associations”.

“This gives the opportunity for clubs to test themselves against a wider range of opponents. It also raises the prospect for fans of seeing the top teams go head-to-head more often and earlier”, he added.

Instead of eight groups of four teams, all 36 teams will now enter a single league.  The points and goals difference stacked up against one another will determine placement.

While teams once had to play six games in total against three set opponents in their pool, they will now have to play eight different teams (four games at home, four games away) against clubs ranked in four different seeding pots by co-effecient points. Two clubs from each pot will be selected as an opponent.

The first round of UCL group stage fixtures will start on Tuesday, 17 September, 2024. The final round will be played on Wednesday, 29 January, 2025.

The top eight teams in the league will advance straight to the Round of 16. Sides finishing between 9th and 24th will compete in a playoff round, with the eight victors progressing to the next round.

The knockout stage will begin March 4, 2025, while the final will hold at Allianz Arena in Munich on May 31, 2025.

Aside creating more group stage meetings between top teams, the new format also offers smaller teams opportunities to gain points.