UEFA Champions League 2024–25 Format Explained

The new Champions League format makes its debut this week.

The Champions League returns this week / IMAGO/PanoramiC

The UEFA Champions League is back for another action-packed seasons with the biggest clubs and players in Europe.

This season's edition of the Champions League will look a little different to what we've seen in years past.

The league phase table 💫#UCL pic.twitter.com/dlMOJW6nbO

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) September 2, 2024

For starters, the group stage is no more. The new-look competition is comprised of of a 36-team League Phase instead of 32 teams playing in eight groups of four. The traditional group stage saw each team play three home matches and three away matches against the other three teams in their respective groups.

In the new format, teams will play a total of eight matches – four home and four away. Since the League Phase contains 36 teams, not all teams will play each other like they did in the traditional group stage to bring more meaning to every single match.

Teams can qualify for the Champions League knockout stage in two different ways. In the old format, teams that finished in the top two places of their groups advanced to the next round. In the new format, the top eight teams gain automatic qualification to the Knockout Phase and teams placed ninth-24th will enter a play-off to determine who will make up the remaining teams in the next round.

For example, two teams that finished between ninth and 24th place in the League Phase would play two matches, home and away, with eight winners joining the top eight teams that already qualified. Teams that finish in 25th place or lower in the League Phase will be eliminated from the Champions League and will not drop down to the Europa League like they did in the previous editions.

It's worth noting that teams are still given three points for winning and one point for a draw. The new format will also be implemented in both the Europa and Conference Leagues starting this season.