Real Madrid lifted their 15th Champions League at Wembley back in June when they beat Borussia Dortmund 2–0. This made Real Madrid the most decorated team in the competition, with eight more titles than AC Milan.
However, if the Spanish giants wish to lift the sought-after trophy yet again, they’ll have to take on a new Champions League format. Here’s the rundown of everything you need to know about the 2024/25 Champions League.
The draws for this season of the Champions League starts with the third qualifying round draw. This will be held on the 22nd of July in Nyon, Switzerland - the home of European football.
This will be followed by the second qualifying round first leg draw on the 23/24th of July, with the second leg draw coming on the 30/31st of July.
The Play-off round draw will come on the 5th of August, with the third qualifying round first leg draw on the 6/7th of August and the second leg draw coming on the 13th of August.
The Play-off round first legs will be drawn on the 20/21st of August, with the second legs drawn on the 27/28th of August.
The big draw will come on the 29th of August.
The first qualifying round will see 28 teams compete for a spot in the next round. These are the teams who are champions of the associations ranked from 26-28th and 30-55th.
The second round of qualifying sees 14 teams who progressed from the first qualifying round take on 28 more teams. Of these new 28 teams, 24 of these teams have taken the champions' path - eight of the champions from associations ranked 15th-18th. There will also be four teams from the league path, with four runners-up from associations ranked 11-14th.
The third qualifying round sees 20 teams compete. 12 of those teams are the winning sides from the previous round and eight sides from the league path.
The league path includes two runners-up from associations ranked 8th and 9th, Belgium and Turkey, one third-place team from the Netherlands, one fourth-placed team from France and two runners-up from Czechia and Switzerland.
The Play-off round includes 14 teams. The champions' path has six winners from the third qualifying round, champions from Israel, Norway or Austria and a champion from Serbia. The league path sees four of the successful teams from the third round.
The new format mostly shows itself in the league phase. This new format was approved by UEFA in May 2022, and it’s the first big change in the competition since 1992.
The previous number of teams competing in the Group stage was 32, but this increased to 36 this season.
This entirely changes the set-up for what was known as the Group stage. Instead of having the teams split into different groups, the ‘Group stage’ will see a league table.
Instead of the usual two games against the other three teams in the group, clubs will play eight different sides, with four home games and four away games.
The fixtures will be decided by the four seeding pots, where the teams will be drawn against each other. The four pots will be determined based on rankings to ensure teams are competing in this competition based on sporting merit.
The top eight sides will qualify automatically to the Round of 16, but those from ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged play-off to get to the Round of 16. The format is the same from the Round of 16 onwards.
Those who finish 25th or lower will be eliminated and will not have the option to drop down into the Europa League.
Both the Europa League and the Conference League will also use this new format. The Europa League follows the Champions League exactly, while the Conference league will only play six matches in the league phase.
The side that wins the Champions League will see themselves in the Club World Cup. However, like the Champions League, this competition will also have a new format.
The Club World Cup will now have 32 teams, instead of the usual seven teams. These 32 teams will comprise:
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