The new-look Champions League for 2024-25

A little more like a league than a cup, at least initially. The new format was already evident at last month’s draw, which was to determine the fixtures of the new league phase, as opposed to placing teams into groups, as had previously been the case.
The 36 qualifying teams were divided in to four seeded pots of nine. Real Madrid, winners of last season’s competition and the teams with the eight best coefficient rankings (based on previous European performance) were placed in Pot 1, the teams with the next nine best coefficient rankings formed Pot 2, and so on. The winners of the Europa League and domestic champions were not favored in the draws.
Each club is now set to play eight games against eight different opposition, with four games played at home and four away. The top eight teams in the final table qualify directly for the Round of 16, while those placed nine to 24 will play off for the other eight spots. Those placed 25-36 will be eliminated from European competition, with no drop down to the Europa League. For the moment, these changes only affect the men’s competitions.
Other than the controversial format itself, more teams will be involved, 36 from 32, and there will be more games, 189 rather than 125.
Two of the additional places went to the top performing leagues in Europe the season before, Germany and Italy, making Borussia Dortmund and Bologna the beneficiaries.
The other two extra spots went to the third-placed team in the league ranked fifth by UEFA (Brest from France’s Ligue 1) and an extra winner of the champions’ path, which is how title-winning teams outside of Europe’s elite qualify for the group stage.
While UEFA have insisted that the new “Swiss Model” (based on a chess competition format in Switzerland) will “allow fans to see more top European matches” and “introduce a better competitive balance,” the two clear incentives are inextricably linked: money and the threat of a Super League.
Firstly, more games means more money in UEFA’s pockets, and the system means that heavyweight teams will meet in the early stages of the competition without their further participation being under serious threat. Even if a team ranked in the top eight of the coefficient were to stumble in the league stage, the gulf between the top and the bottom of European football leagues is such that the big clubs will almost certainly at least be in the mix for the playoffs, where they would likely be favorites to progress.
But the push to change the format of UEFA’s premier club competition came after the threat from the European Super League, which initially proposed a model with some similarities but, crucially, without access to clubs outside of the chosen few. What remains of the Super League now has a new offering, but UEFA are pinning their hopes on the Champions League holding out.
The league phase of the rebooted competition runs from September to January on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with the exception of Matchday 1, which extends into Thursday. Matchday 8 is another exception, as the final league-phase games will all be played on Wednesday, January 29.
Here’s how Matchday 1 shapes up:
The new Europa League looks much the same as the new Champions League but the Conference League, while following the same format, has six teams per group, as opposed to eight in the other competitions. These matches will continue, broadly, to be played on Thursdays.
This story was initially published in December 2023 and updated on September 16, 2024 to reflect the scheduling of the league phase.
Edited by: Jonathan Harding