The 2024/25 UEFA Champions League, Europe’s elite football competition, will be revamped. This new structure will spice things up and excite fans.
Important Format Changes
One major alteration is the increase of the inaugural league phase. The competition will now include 36 teams in one league instead of 32 in eight groups of four. Each side will play eight matches against eight different opponents, four at home and four away. Team rankings will determine these opponents from four seeded pots, assuring a diversity of encounters for each club.
This replaces the former group stage system of teams playing their three groupmates twice. UEFA wants to give elite teams greater chances to play each other early and more often in the campaign to create excitement.
Selection and Elimination
The top eight league clubs automatically progress to the elimination stage. To determine the last 16 berths, 9th–24th ranked teams will play a two-legged playoff. Instead of dropping to the Europa League, teams who finish 25th or worse or lose in the play-offs will be removed from European tournaments.
The play-off winners will join the top eight seeds in the regular knockout stages from Round of 16 to final. The 2025 season final will be place in Munich’s Allianz Arena.
Adjustments to Draw and Fixtures
The group stage fixtures are now determined automatically instead of by pulling balls from bowls. The new format was too complicated to draw manually, thus this alteration was needed. After assigning each side a ball number, a computer program will randomly choose opponents from the four pots and determine home and away matches.
Impact on Conference and Europa League
The Europa League, featuring 36 clubs and an eight-match league round, will follow the new format. The renamed UEFA Conference League will include six matches against six different teams.
Scheduling and Match Dates
The Champions League and Europa League league phase runs from September to January, including midweek matches. The Conference League’s first stage runs from September to December. Each competition will have unique match weeks to minimize schedule problems.
The new structure increases high-stakes matchups and gives clubs more chances to show themselves against Europe’s best. UEFA’s bold step shows its dedication to keeping the Champions League exciting for fans globally.
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