Unpacking UEFA Champions League New Format
The league phase draw for the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League was conducted on Thursday evening.
The tournament will have a new format and thirty-six will take part in the stage in a single league.
The biggest change sees a transformation from the traditional group stage to a single league phase including all participating teams.
Each side will play eight matches in the new league phase (former group stage). They will no longer play three opponents twice – home and away – but will instead face fixtures against eight different teams, playing half of those matches at home and half of them away.
To determine the eight different opponents, the teams were initially ranked in four seeding pots. Each team was then drawn to play two opponents from each of these pots, playing one match against a team from each pot at home, and one away.
The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stages, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure a place in the last 16 of the competition.
Teams ranked 25-36 are eliminated from all competitions.
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