With August coming to an end, we’re edging closer to the return of the UEFA Champions League. This season, however, will be slightly different with Europe’s premier club competition set for some major structural changes.
In this blog we will provide a rundown of the brand new Champions League format taking effect from the 2024/25 campaign.
Fans hoping to attend UEFA Champions League matches can do so with the help of SeatPick. By working with dozens of trusted providers online, our platform enables users to discover the best & cheapest Champions League tickets with a minimum 100% ticket guarantee on every purchase made through SeatPick.
2024/25 UEFA Champions League Format
Until now the UEFA Champions League format had remained largely unchanged for 21 years. The most prominent alteration to the competition sees the traditional Champions League group stage replaced by a new league phase.
Instead of the usual eight groups of four teams, there will now be just one dilated ‘pool’ consisting of all competing clubs, which has been expanded from 32 to 36. Once all 36 teams have been confirmed for the league phase, they will be divided into four pots of nine teams based on their UEFA club coefficient.
Every competitor will play eight different teams in the new league phase – four at home and four away – with two opponents from each of the four pots. This is where the new format differs from the old, as all teams will face each of their opponents once instead of twice.
The Champions League draw will be completed by specialised software, ditching the human-operated system which us fans have become accustomed to over the years. Clubs from the same national association cannot face each other in the Champions League league phase.
The same changes will be applied to the UEFA Europa League, while the UEFA Conference League has fewer participating clubs and therefore a slightly different format. As opposed to previously, no teams will drop from the Champions League to the Europa League, nor from the Europa League to the Conference League.
A full explainer of the new Champions League format can be found here:
At the end of the league phase, the top eight teams with the most points will directly advance to the Round of 16. The clubs finishing 9th-24th, meanwhile, will compete in a play-off round to determine the remaining eight participating teams in the Round of 16.
Thereafter the Champions League quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will proceed as usual.
The Champions League Final will take place on 31 May 2025, at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
2024/25 Champions League Teams
All but seven teams had been confirmed by the start of August 2024, with the final participants to be decided in the week leading up to the Champions League draw on 29 August.
The likes of Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Arsenal, and Liverpool all booked their spots in the new Champions League league phase.
Other confirmed competitors include AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Aston Villa, Bayer Leverkusen, Inter Milan, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain.
Below you can see all 36 teams taking part in the league phase:
| Domestic League | 2023/24 Winner | 2023/24 Runner-up | 2023/24 3rd Place | 2023/24 4th Place | 2023/24 5th Place |
| Bundesliga | Bayer Leverkusen | VfB Stuttgart | Bayern Munich | RB Leipzig | Borussia Dortmund |
| Serie A | Inter Milan | AC Milan | Juventus | Atalanta | Bologna |
| La Liga | Real Madrid | FC Barcelona | Girona | Atletico Madrid | |
| Premier League | Manchester City | Arsenal | Liverpool | Aston Villa | |
| Ligue 1 | Paris Saint-Germain | AS Monaco | Stade Brest | LOSC Lille | |
| Eredivisie | PSV | Feyenoord | |||
| Primeira Liga | Sporting CP | SL Benfica | |||
| Austrian Bundesliga | Sturm Graz | RB Salzburg | |||
| Belgian Pro League | Club Brugge | ||||
| Scottish Premiership | Celtic FC | ||||
| Croatian Football League | Dinamo Zagreb | ||||
| Czech First League | Sparta Prague | ||||
| Serbian SuperLiga | Red Star Belgrade | ||||
| Swiss Super League | Young Boys | ||||
| Ukrainian Premier League | Shakhtar Donetsk | ||||
| Slovak First Football League | Slovan Bratislava |
