The new-look Champions League draw takes place today at 5pm (UK time) and will see Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Celtic discover their league phase opponents.
The Champions League has undergone a drastic revamp ahead of the 2024/25 season which sees the number of matches in the new format increase from 125 to 189.
The league phase will now be completed at the end of January instead of during December, while there will be weeks exclusively dedicated to the Champions League in the football calendar when no other European competitions are played.
The winners will have played 17 games across the competition, while matches played across Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Europe’s premier club competition will become the new normal.
When is the draw for the league phase?
The draw for the league phase will be held today at 5pm (UK time).
How does the new Champions League format work?
Taking the total number of teams from 32 to 36 in the Champions League, the biggest change will see a transformation from the traditional group stage to a single league phase including all participating teams.
Every club will now be guaranteed a minimum of eight league-stage games against eight different opponents (four home games, four away) rather than the previous six matches against three teams, played on a home-and-away basis.
No team can play a side from their own league at this stage, although teams from England and Scotland could be drawn against each other. UEFA will confirm any other restrictions ahead of the draw ceremony.
The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stages, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure a place in the last 16 of the competition.
Teams ranked 25-36 are eliminated from all competitions.
OK, but how does the draw work in practice?
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Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol shares why UEFA has changed the formats of its club competitions and how they will work
First, all 36 teams will be manually drawn with a physical ball on stage.
Then, for every team manually drawn, a designated automated software will randomly draw eight opponents across the four pots – to be shown on screen and on stage at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo for all to see.
The software will then decide which fixtures are home and away.
The draw will start with Pot 1 (containing the strongest teams and current holders of the Champions League) and work down through the four pots.
Who is in the draw? What are the pots?
Pot 1: Real Madrid, Manchester City, 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.
With the pots decided, what’s next?
Each team will be drawn against two different teams from each pot, playing one team at home and one away.
Teams will play eight matches against eight different teams.
Why is the draw being done by a computer?
The new draw system is expected to take around 35 minutes – the same duration as the manual draws for the previous 32-team format with a group phase and knockout stage.
Without the bespoke software, an old-fashioned manual draw for the expanded competition would take four hours and require up to 1,000 balls and 36 glass bowls.
Will the draw be safe and fair?
UEFA is confident the draw in Monaco is safe from the threat of cyberattack. The software which will conduct Thursday’s draw was developed by UK IT company AE Live.
To ensure safety and fairness there will also be two backup software systems and the draw will be audited by accountancy firm Ernst & Young.
When will fans know the fixture dates?
The finalised fixture list will be released on Saturday August 31.
How many teams can you face from any one nation?
In the league phase, teams cannot face opponents from their own country and can face a maximum of two sides from the same country.
When are the 2024/25 Champions League league-stage matches?
From next season, a new format will be in play for the Champions League
- Matchday 1: September 17-19, 2024
- Matchday 2: October 1/2, 2024
- Matchday 3: October 22/23, 2024
- Matchday 4: November 5/6, 2024
- Matchday 5: November 26/27, 2024
- Matchday 6: December 10/11, 2024
- Matchday 7: January 21/22, 2025
- Matchday 8: January 29, 2025
When are the 2024/25 Champions League knockout stages?
- Knockout round play-offs: February 11/12 and February 18/19, 2025
- Round of 16: March 4/5 and March 11/12, 2025
- Quarter-finals: April 8/9 and April 15/16, 2025
- Semi-finals: April 29/30 and May 6/7, 2025
- Final: May 31, 2025
Where is the Champions League final being held in 2025?
The 2024/25 UEFA Champions League season will take place in Munich at the Allianz Arena on May 31, 2025.
The Europa League and Europa Conference League changing too?
Atalanta won the Europa League during the 2023/24 season
Similar changes will be made to the Europa League and Europa Conference League formats, with 36 teams in each.
Teams in the Europa League will have eight matches against eight different opponents in the league phase.
In the Europa Conference League – renamed the UEFA Conference League – teams will have six matches against six different opponents in the league phase. The UEFA Conference League games will be played between September and December.
The knockout phases of the competitions will take place through the second half of the season and culminate at the end of the campaign, as they do now.