The Champions League has been drawn in Monaco with the teams learning their opponents in the new format.
The hands of Buffon and Cristiano Ronaldo brought spectacle for the new season, where meetings such as Real Madrid-Milan, Manchester City-Inter, Bayern-PSG, Barcelona-Bayern, Liverpool-Real Madrid, Milan-Liverpool, Inter-Arsenal, Juventus- Manchester City etc.
From the 2024/25 season, 36 clubs will take part in the Champions League stage (formerly the group stage), giving four more teams the chance to compete against the best clubs in Europe. These 36 clubs will participate in a single league competition in which all 36 competing clubs are ranked together.
Under the new format, teams will play eight matches in the new league stage (formerly the group stage). They will no longer play three opponents twice (home and away), but will face matches against eight different teams, playing half of those matches at home and half away.
This gives clubs the chance to test themselves against a wider range of opposition and increases the chance for fans to see the best teams go head-to-head more often and earlier in the competition. It will also result in more competitive fixtures for every club across the board.
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How will the teams reach the Champions League knockout stage and will the format for the knockout stage change?
The results of each match will decide the overall standings in the new league, with three points for a win and one for a draw.
The top eight teams in the league will automatically qualify for the round of 16, while the teams finishing 9th to 24th will compete in a two-legged play-off stage to ensure their way to the last 16 of the competition. Teams finishing 25th or below will be eliminated, without access to the UEFA Europa League.
In the knockout stage, teams finishing 9th and 16th will be placed in the knockout stage play-off draw, meaning they will face a team ranked 17th -to 24, in principle, the homecoming game. The eight teams that prevail in the knockout stage play-offs will then advance to the Round of 16, where they will each face one of the eight finalists.
From the round of 16 onwards, the competition will continue to follow its existing format of knockout rounds leading to the final held at a neutral venue selected by UEFA.
All pre-final matches will continue to be played in midweek, recognizing the importance of the domestic fixture calendar across Europe, with the final being played on Saturday.
