The UEFA Champions League is undergoing a significant transformation starting with the 2024/25 season. The format that has become so familiar and resulted in several captivating moments in recent years, is replaced by a new structure that promises exciting changes to Europe’s continental competitions.
The revamped draw took place last Friday with the group stage fixtures announced. Below is an in-depth look at how the new group stage will work for 2024/25:
More teams in the group stage
From the 2024/25 season, 36 clubs will participate in the Champions League, with the opening phase pivoting from the widely-recognised group stage to a newly revamped league phase.
The previous format saw 32 teams play in eight groups of four, competing for a place in the knock-out rounds of the competition. The change will now see all 36 clubs take part in a single league competition where all of the teams are ranked together.
Teams will no longer play three opponents twice, home and away, but will instead play eight fixtures against eight different teams, half of those at home and half of them away.
How were the fixtures decided?
For the fixtures to be decided, every team was ranked in four seeding pots, with every club drawn to play two opponents from each of the four pots, one match at home and one match away from home per pot.
This change has been made in order to see a wider range of opponents and matches and for the top teams across the continent to match up earlier on in the competition, with the intention of making the opening phase of the competition more competitive.
The first round of group matches will take place on 17, 18 and 19 September. The results of each match will decide the overall rankings in the league, with the standard three points being awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss.
At the end of the eight league phase fixtures, the top eight teams will automatically qualify for the round of 16, while the next 16 teams will compete in a two-legged knock-out phase play-off to secure their path into the round of 16. That leaves the final 12 teams to be eliminated from Europe entirely, with there no longer being access to the Europa League.
From the round of 16 onwards, the competition’s format will stay the same as the current system, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final all remaining as they are.
Who are Europe’s best playing?
Real Madrid
In a repeat of last season’s final, Real Madrid will face Borussia Dortmund at home, while they will also travel to Anfield Stadium to face Liverpool in a repeat encounter of the 2021/22 final.
The reigning champions will also take on AC Milan, Atalanta, RB Salzburg, Lille, Stuttgart and Brest in one of the more difficult draws that any club has received.
Manchester City
Man City’s most intriguing games will match them up with a home tie against Inter Milan in a repeat of the 2022-23 final, while also seeing Pep Guardiola’s men travel to face Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.
Bayern Munich
Bayern will take on Paris Saint-Germain at home and travel to face Barcelona, while they also face potentially challenging encounters against Benfica, Shakhtar Donetsk and Aston Villa on the road.
Fixtures: (H) PSG (A) Barcelona (H) Benfica (A) Shakhtar (H) GNK Dinamo (A) Feyenoord (H) Slovan Bratislava (A) Aston Villa
Paris Saint-Germain
In arguably the hardest draw, PSG will face Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Arsenal, PSV Eindhoven, Salzburg, Girona and Stuttgart for their eight league phase matches.
Fixtures: (H) Man City (A) Bayern (H) Atletico Madrid (A) Arsenal (H) PSV (A) Salzburg (H) Girona (A) Stuttgart
Arsenal
Find Arsenal’s full fixtures below:
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by Samuel
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