The 2024/25 Champions League: How will the new 36-team format work?

The latest format of the Champions League will ensure more competition and a wide range of opponents for every team.

UEFA Champions League trophy, image courtesy: X

European football is one of the most dynamic events in the country and as time would have it, over the years, it has evolved and changed drastically. Talking about changes, however, UEFA Champions League, the pinnacle of all contests in Europe, is about to undergo another major change and that is a change in its format and also the recently concluded draw.

The key change in this year’s Champions League is the addition of four new teams, which makes it 36 teams from the 32 that have played until the last edition. Those 36 clubs who will be participating in the contest will play in a single league competition where all the clubs will be ranked together.

Under the new format, the teams will not play three home and three away fixtures against the same team in the group stages. Instead they will play eight other teams with four games in their home while four away. To figure out the eight different oppositions, the teams were initially ranked in four seeding pots. Each team will then be drawn to battle it out against two oppositions from each of these pots, playing one match against a team from each pot in their backyard and the other one on the road.

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ℹ️ New format. New draw.#UCLdraw | #UELdraw | #UECLdraw pic.twitter.com/QKTwVPMhQU
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 20, 2024

The new format will ensure that the range of competition for each team will increase. It will also enhance the quality of the competition and the team that will be coming out on top will have crossed a lot more barriers than the earlier iterations of the tournament.

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How will the knock-outs in UEFA Champions League 2024-25 pan out?

The top eight teams of the league stages will automatically qualify for the round of 16. Teams ranked from 9^th to 24^th, will be participating in a two-legged knock-out phase play-off to secure their advancement. Team finishing below 25^th will be eliminated from the tournament without access to UEFA Europa League.

In the knock-out phases, the team ranked between 9^th and 16^th will be seeded which means they will be playing a team ranked between 17^th and 24^th. This will ensure that they are playing the return leg at home, courtesy of their better finish than their counterparts in the league stages.

From the quarter-finals, however, the competition will follow its existing course where the team will be playing two legs, one at home while the other away. The games until the final will be played in the midweek while the summit clash as always will be played on a Saturday.

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