The action in European football has already begun and with it, the celebration of the UEFA Champions League, the tournament that brings together the best teams in European football in a single tournament.
However, for the 2024/25 season, the tournament’s organisers have decided to implement a new format for both the development of the game and the conduct of the draw.
In this edition, 36 teams will participate in what will be the league phase, previously known as the group phase.
According to UEFA, “teams will play eight matches against eight different teams, instead of facing three teams twice as was the case previously.”
This is how the new Champions League draw system will work
To establish these eight rivals, the clubs will be divided into four different pots that will be established based on the “individual coefficient of each club at the beginning of the season”, with the tournament champion being the only exception, which will be placed in pot 1.
The governing body of European football also announced that: “Each team will face two opponents from each pot, one at home and one away. The same will apply in the UEFA Europa League, while in the UEFA Conference League each team will face only six opponents, one from each of the six pots.”
The draw will be done manually and for each team, “an automated software will randomly select eight rivals from the four pots, which will be announced on the screen in the hall and on television.” This technology will also decide which teams will play at home and which will play away.
UEFA will begin the draw with pot 1, “assigning eight opponents to the nine teams, one after the other, and will continue with the other pots in descending order until all the teams have been assigned their eight opponents.”
Each club will know all its opponents when the draw is completed and both dates and times will be set “on Saturday 31 August, to ensure there are no clashes in the schedule with UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League teams playing in the same cities”.
The draw will take place on Thursday 29 August at a time yet to be confirmed. The venue will be UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
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