The Uefa Champions League returns, but not how we’ve ever seen it before. Some changes are simple while others are more complicated. A few might be a little of a mystery, however, we might get to understand better in the knockouts in February.
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| Saudi Pro League club, Al Nassr, forward Cristiano Ronaldo, at the Uefa Champions League 2024/25 Draw on Thursday 29 August, 2024. Photo: @ChampionsLeague |
This season marks the first time a new format is applied to the top club tournament in Europe.
There are 36 teams in the tournament now, but, they will not be drawn into Groups. We have the Champions League ‘league phase’ instead.
| UCL 2024/25 | League | Phase | Pots |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Real Madrid | Leverkusen | Feyenoord | Slovan B. |
| Man City | A. Madrid | Sporting CP | Monaco |
| Bayern | Atalanta | PSV | Sparta Praha |
| PSG | Juventus | GNK Dinamo | Aston Villa |
| Liverpool | Benfica | Salzburg | Bologna |
| Inter | Arsenal | Lille | Girona |
| Dortmund | C. Brugge | C. Zvezda | Stuttgart |
| RB Leipzig | S. Donetsk | Young Boys | Strum Graz |
| Barcelona | AC Milan | Celtic | Brest |
The New Format
According to espn.com:
Rather than placing teams into groups, the new draw format creates the fixtures. Each club will play eight games, with two opponents drawn from each of the four pots. One match from each pot will be at home, and the other away.
That’s 36 teams and 36 unique fixture lists to be drawn.
There were two main principles this season:
• No club could play another team from their own league (for example, Arsenal couldn’t play Aston Villa).
• A club could play no more than two teams from one country (if Arsenal drew Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, they couldn’t then play VfB Stuttgart)
How it worked:
• A team was drawn by an ex-player on stage (starting with Pot 1 and ending with Pot 4)
• A computer randomly selected that club’s eight opponents (subject to the constraints of the draw) after Cristiano Ronaldo pressed a button on the stage, and that also determined which match is played home or away.
Uefa Champions League 2024/25 Draw
1. Manchester City: Inter Milan (H), PSG (A), Club Brugge (H), Juventus (A), Feyenoord (H), Sporting Lisbon (A), Sparta Prague (H), Slovan Bratislava (A)
2. Arsenal: PSG (H), Inter Milan (A), Shakhtar Donetsk (H), Atalanta (A), Dinamo Zagreb (H), Sporting Lisbon (A), Monaco (H), Girona (A)
3. Liverpool: Real Madrid (H), RB Leipzig (A), Bayer Leverkusen (H), AC Milan (A), Lille (H), PSV (A), Bologna (H), Girona (A)
4. Aston Villa: Bayern Munich (H), RB Leipzig (A), Juventus (H), Club Brugge (A), Celtic (H), Young Boys (A), Bologna (H), Monaco (A)
5. Real Madrid: Dortmund (H), Liverpool (A), AC Milan (H), Atalanta (A), Salzburg (H), Lille (A), Stuttgart (H), Brest (A)
6. Barcelona: Bayern Munich (H), Dortmund (A), Atalanta (H), Benfica (A), Young Boys (H), Red Star Belgrade (A), Brest (H), Monaco (A)
7. Atlético Madrid: RB Leipzig (H), PSG (A), Bayer Leverkusen (H), Benfica (A), Lille (H), RB Salzburg (A), Slovan Bratislava (H), Sparta Prague (A)
8. Bayern Munich: PSG (H), Barcelona (A), Benfica (H), Shakhtar Donetsk (A), Dinamo Zagreb (H), Feyenoord (A), Slovan Bratislava (H), Aston Villa (A)
9. Bayer Leverkusen: Inter Milan (H), Liverpool (A), Atlético Madrid (A), AC Milan (H), RB Salzburg (H), Feyenoord (A), Sparta Prague (H), Brest (A)
10. Borussia Dortmund: Barcelona (H), Real Madrid (A), Shakhtar Donetsk (H), Club Brugge (A), Celtic (H), Dinamo Zagreb (A), Sturm Graz (H), Bologna (A)
11. Inter Milan: RB Leipzig (H), Man City (A), Arsenal (H), Leverkusen (A), Red Star Belgrade (H), Young Boys (A), Monaco (H), Sparta Prague (A)
12. AC Milan: Liverpool (H), Real Madrid (A), Club Brugge (H), Bayer Leverkusen (A), Red Star Belgrade (H), Dinamo Zagreb (A), Girona (H), Slovan Bratislava (A)
13. Juventus: Man City (H), RB Leipzig (A), Benfica (H), Club Brugge (A), PSV (H), Lille (A), Stuttgart (H), Aston Villa (A)
14. Paris Saint-Germain: Man City (H), Bayern Munich (A), Atlético Madrid (H), Arsenal (A), PSV (H), RB Salzburg (A), Girona (H), Stuttgart (A)
15. Celtic: RB Leipzig (H), Borussia Dortmund (A), Club Brugge (H), Atalanta (A), Young Boys (H), Dinamo Zagreb (A), Slovan Bratislava (H), Aston Villa (A)
The dates, times and order of each team’s fixtures will be announced Saturday.
