The Champions League Draw: What Will Change in the 2024/25 Season

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28 August 2024, 20:15 yayınlandı

An entirely new Champions League

On Thursday, August 29 (6:00PM CEST / 12:00PM ET) the draw for the league stage of the 2024/25 Champions League will take place in Monaco. The new edition will be the first that will be played under a completely new format.

What are the new rules, the changes, and most importantly, how will RB Leipzig’s European campaign be influenced by the reform… we cover all your doubts here.

The new Champions League

A total of 36 teams will participate, an increase of four from last season’s 32
Each team will play against eight different opponents and will have four home and four away games. This means at least two more UCL games than before.
The best eight teams in the league qualify directly for the Round of 16. Places 9 to 24 will play in a play-off round for the remaining eight places in the round of 16. The rest will be eliminated.
From the Round of 16 onwards, the play-off format that has been in use will remain, with home and away matches until the final.

The new draw format

The 36 teams are divided into four pots of nine teams each based on their UEFA Club Coefficient. RB Leipzig is in Pot 1.
A special computer software assigns each team two opponents from each pot, as well as determines home and away games. The draw begins with Pot 1 and continues in descending order until each participant has been assigned all eight opponents.
The participating teams are assigned one home and one away game from each pot: Unlike before, each rival will be faced once, meaning there won’t be home-away series.
In the league phase, teams don’t play against other clubs from their own country. Also, they may only have two rivals from the same country.
The fixtures with dates and kick-off times will be published on August 31st.