UEFA Champions League 2024-25 Group Stage draw – New look tournament format and rules explained

The UEFA Champions League, one of the world’s most successful and popular competitions, has undergone a significant revamp in the latest edition of the 2024/25 season which would see the league adapt to the Swiss format.

One of the world’s most popular competitions is about to change and the old format was already played out last season. UEFA has made a huge change to their group-stage format where all clubs will be placed into one giant table, instead of eight groups of four. The number of teams in this competition has been increased from 32 to 36 and each team will be guaranteed a minimum of eight games.

When is the Champions League draw?

The draw for the UEFA Champions League 2024-25 “league phase” will take at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Thursday, August 29, 2024. UEFA has announced the draw will take place at 5 pm (BST) or 12.30 pm (IST) in Monaco.

Which teams have already qualified for the Champions League 2024-25 group stage draw?

This year 25 teams have automatically qualified for the Champions League due to their league position in their respective leagues. A total of 36 teams will enter the league phase and two leagues – Italy and Germany have been rewarded with an extra spot based on their performance in Europe last season. The next two teams – Benfica and Shakhtar Donetsk have qualified by virtue of the Champions League and Europa League winners who have already secured a place after their domestic league performance. Seven further teams will qualify for their spots via the play-offs.

Champions League draw seeding: How does it work?

The number of teams in the Champions League has increased from 32 to 26 but the biggest noteworthy change is that UEFA will scrap the traditional group stage and change to a “single league phase” which includes all participating teams. Each team will now be guaranteed to play eight matches (four home, four away) rather than the six games played in the traditional group stage.

The “league phase” will be just like a domestic competition in terms of structure, but the teams that finish 1st-8th in the league will qualify automatically for the round of 16. The teams finishing from ninth to 24th place will compete in two-legged play-off matches and eight more squads will secure a spot in the last 16.

Teams that are ranked from 25-36 will be automatically eliminated from the competition.

From the round of 16, the competition will follow its existing format of knockout rounds leading to the final which will be played at the Allianz Arena in Bayern Munich on May 31, 2025.

*No team can play another team from their respective domestic league.

Road to the Champions League Final

Revenue distribution in the new format of the Champions League

The total revenue available for distribution for the participating clubs in the UEFA competitions is €3.317bn out of which €2.467bn will be distributed among clubs partaking in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Super Cup. This entire amount will be distributed into three different pillars – participation, performance and value.

• 27.5% will be allocated to equal shares (participation fee) – €670m
• 37.5% will be allocated to performance-related amounts – €914m
• 35% will be allocated to the newly created value pillar – €853m