New Delhi: The stage is set for the upcoming season of the UEFA Champions League. Defending Champions Real Madrid started their journey in Pot 1 of the new-look UEFA Champions League and now know who they have to overcome to defend their crown once again. The draw of the league phase of the UEFA Champions League is now complete and we know how will things play out once the tournament begins in the middle of September, post the international break.
The tournament underwent a drastic revamp ahead of the 2024/25 season, expanding from 32 teams to 36 teams and moving towards a ‘Swiss-style’ league system rather than the traditional group stage format which everyone had gotten used to. This expansion sees the total number of games in the tournament increase from an already high number of 125 to a mammoth total of 189, which means there will be Thursday night games in the UEFA Champions League as well.
The league stage of the Champions League will see all 36 teams play eight games against eight different oppositions that were chosen for them in the draw with the help of an AI software, which will also determine whether the games will be played at home or away. Once the league phase ends, the top eight teams will qualify directly for the knockouts while the teams finishing between 9-24 will play each other to advance to the knockout stages. Teams that finish below 24th in the league will be eliminated from all UEFA club competitions of the season.
The new format of the Champions League also means that the league stage, which replaces the group stage from previous years, will now be completed towards the end of January instead of December, and there will be a few weeks which will be exclusively dedicated to Champions League football in the calendar when no other European competitions are played.
UEFA Award Ceremony
Former Juventus teammates Gigi Buffon and Cristiano Ronaldo were honoured by Aleksander Čeferin. (Credits: Getty Images)
Like every year, this year as well the night of the draw is also the night when European football’s governing body hands out awards to outstanding performers over the past year and also to some who’ve had an excellent career. This year’s ceremony started with the UEFA President’s Award for 2024. The award is given to the footballer, honouring their achievements, professional excellence and exemplary personal qualities UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin chose to bestow this award on legendary Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.
The second award of the night was bestowed upon the five-time UEFA Champions League winner and a certified future legend of the game, Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese star was recognized for being the UEFA Champions League’s all-time top scorer with 140 goals to his name in the competition in just 183 games. While the star no longer plays in the competition, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin joked and expressed hope of seeing the Portuguese icon back in Europe’s premier competition.
UEFA Champions League: The League Phase Draw
Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Group Stage Draw at Grimaldi Forum on August 29, 2024 in Monaco, Monaco. (Photo by Claudio Lavenia – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
The rules of the draw were simple. According to their seeding, all 36 teams are divided into four pots of nine each. Each team will face two teams from each pot, one home and one away, and will play eight different oppositions with four games at home and four away. None of the teams can play rivals from their own country and can’t face more than two clubs from the same country.
The draw started with all the teams in Pot 1 and the first team drawn were Premier League champions Manchester City who will take on Inter Milan and PSG from their pot while they also face a stern test away to Juventus from Pot 2. Their opponents Inter Milan have also been handed a tricky set of fixtures with the Italian outfit facing Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen from Pot 2.
Bayern Munich will face Barcelona once again in this year’s Champions League while we will also see a rematch of the UEFA Euro 2020 final when the Bavarians take on PSG. They will also travel to England to take on UEFA Champions League debutants Aston Villa. Defending Champions Real Madrid will start their defence with games against Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool, AC Milan and Germany’s surprise package from last season VfB Stuttgart.
✅ Home and away opponents for Pot 1 teams 🏠✈️#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/4bwEU4zCqq
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 29, 2024
Arsenal take on PSG and Inter Milan from Pot 1 while they also travel to Girona, who make their debut in the competition this season. Juventus, who return to the tournament this year after missing out last year, will face Manchester City and RB Leipzig from Pot 1 and face the two surprise packages from last season from Pot 4, VfB Stuttgart and Aston Villa. AC Milan face challenging fixtures to Real Madrid, Liverpool, Girona and Bayer Leverkusen in their league phase fixtures.
✅ Home and away opponents for Pot 2 teams 🏠✈️#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/DHAAIG5uxB
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 29, 2024
Dutch Champions PSV have a tough run of fixtures as they will be facing Liverpool, PSG, Juventus and Girona while Scottish Champions Celtic face Borrusia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Aston Villa and Atlanta in their league phase games. RB Salzburg have drawn four heavyweights of European football in their first eight games as they will face PSG, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen.
✅ Home and away opponents for Pot 3 teams 🏠✈️#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/6xQDCTNtdL
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 29, 2024
Aston Villa, Girona, and Bologna are all making their debut in the UEFA Champions League this season and were all drawn in Pot 4. Bologna and Aston Villa have been a part of the Champions Cup before but have never taken part in the competition since it rebranded to the UEFA Champions League. Villa will face giants like Bayern Munich and Juventus, while also competing against fellow debutants Bologna. The Italian side will also face Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool in addition to Villa.
✅ Home and away opponents for Pot 4 teams 🏠✈️#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/G22WtdPeMb
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 29, 2024
While all the games for the UEFA Champions League group stages have been decided, the dates for these fixtures haven’t yet been confirmed and will be confirmed by this Saturday, August 31, 2024.
This season’s UEFA Champions League will be played in an entirely new format with the competition expanding to 36 teams. Find out how this season’s new ‘league phase’ will be played out! Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
