British clubs discover fate of 24/25 Champions League draw with new league phase explained

British clubs discover fate of 24/25 Champions League draw with a brand new league phase explained to help understand the changes made.

Earlier this year, fans were left divided by the new Champions League, Europa League and Conference League format which it put in place from 2024/25.

It’s all change in European football, and now a video explaining what is happening has now emerged and got people talking.

An exciting new era for European club football awaits 🤩

Here’s how the #UCL will look from 2024/25 👇 pic.twitter.com/mEffFOpX2O

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 4, 2024

As mentioned in the clip above: “The 2024/25 season sees the start of an exciting new era for the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League.

“Taking part in the competitions, though, remains open and based on sporting merit from next season, the current 32 team group stage will be replaced by a league phase featuring 36 teams in each of UEFA’s three men’s club competitions.

“Each team will be drawn against eight different opponents, two from each of the four seeding pots, playing four at home and four away.

“However, in the UEFA Conference League, each team plays only six opponents, one from each of the six seeding pots.

“Teams that finish in positions one to eight qualify directly for the round of 16.

“Teams ranked nine to 24 must face each other in the knockout playoff round to join the top eight.

“In the round of 16, teams in positions 25 to 36 are eliminated from all competitions.

“In the knockout phase, all ties are contested home and away, culminating with a single leg final.

“In the new league format, every match, every goal, every point and position in the ranking counts.

“The new system will ensure fast changing and unpredictable standings.

“More matches between equally ranked teams competing for crucial points, with fans able to enjoy top clashes right from the first match day 2024. A thrilling new future European club football.”

Which teams are in which pots?

Pot 1: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona

Pot 2: Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan.

Pot 3: Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Dinamo Zagreb, Red Bull Salzburg, Lille, Red Star Belgrade, Young Boys, Celtic.

Pot 4: Slovan Bratislava, Monaco, Sparta Prague, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW:

Man City’s opponents (not in that order)
Inter Milan (h)
PSG (a)
Club Brugge (h)
Juventus (a)
Feyenoord (h)
Sporting CP (a)
Sparta Prague (h)
Slovan Bratislava (a)

Liverpool’s opponents (not in that order)
Real Madrid (h)
RB Leipzig (a)
Bayer Leverkusen (h)
AC Milan (a)
Lille (h)
PSV (a)
Bologna (h)
Girona (a)

Arsenal’s opponents (not in that order)
PSG (h)
Inter Milan (a)
Shakhtar Donestsk (h)
Atalanta (a)
GNK Dinamo (h)
Sporting CP
Monaco (h)
Girona (a)

Celtic’s opponents (not in that order)
RB Leipzig (h)
Borussia Dortmund (a)
Club Brugge (h)
Atalanta (a)
Young Boys (h)
GNK Dinamo (a)
Solvan Bratislava (h)
Aston Villa (a)

Aston Villa’s opponents (not in that order)
Bayern Munich (h)
RB Leipzig (a)
Juventus (h)
Club Brugge (a)
Celtic (h)
Young Boys (a)
Bologna (h)
Monaco (a)

Home and away opponents for Pot 1 teams

Home and away opponents for Pot 2 teams

Home and away opponents for Pot 3 teams

Home and away opponents for Pot 4 teams

Tobias Hedtstuck, UEFA’s Head of Club Competitions: “One of the points we started with was analysing that the feeling was the competitiveness of the group stage was decreased, having maybe teams qualified very early after matchday 4 or 5 already.

“So we also know that the young generation is watching football differently, and all this is something which we wanted to see how we can change the competition narrative.”

Stephane Anselmo, UEFA’s Head of Competitions Strategic Development: “We like the previous format. It was good. But the next one will be even better, we think.

“Because we are adding ingredients, more balanced, more uncertainty, more unpredictability, and this will lead to a much more dynamic system. The league phase will be interconnected. All the matches will have an influence on each other and with all the matches that we have between the top teams, we think that we are adding ingredients to a great formula already, so it will be even better even better.”

Key dates: League stage matches

The finalised fixture list will be released on Saturday August 31.

Matchday 1: September 17-19, 2024
Matchday 2: October 1/2, 2024
Matchday 3: October 22/23, 2024
Matchday 4: November 5/6, 2024
Matchday 5: November 26/27, 2024
Matchday 6: December 10/11, 2024
Matchday 7: January 21/22, 2025
Matchday 8: January 29, 2025
Knockout round play-offs: 11/12 & 18/19 February 2025
Round of 16: 4/5 & 11/12 March 2025
Quarter-finals: 8/9 & 15/16 April 2025
Semi-finals: 29/30 April & 6/7 May 2025
Final: 31 May 2025

When are the 2024/25 Champions League draws?

First qualifying round: 18 June 2024
Second qualifying round: 19 June 2024
Third qualifying round: 22 July 2024
Play-offs: 5 August 2024
League phase: 29 August 2024
Knockout round play-offs: 31 January 2025
Round of 16, quarter-final, semi-final: 21 February 2025