The Champions League is changing – and that means a new draw format to get your head around!
Yep, it’s that time of year when UEFA chiefs spend ages boring football fans to death with their talk of procedure but, on the plus side, the days of picking lots of balls out of pots and unscrewing them to reveal tiny bits of paper are long gone as technology will be employed to speed things up.
A total of 36 teams – up from 32 – will take part in this season’s Champions League as the group stage is ditched in favour of a league phase, which means a lot more games on the road to next year’s final at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany.
Champions League odds are on the Paddy Power website and Paddy Power app, otherwise, everything you need to know about the draw can be found below.
Champions League draw teams and pots
The 36 teams involved in the 2024/25 Champions League will be divided into four pots of nine teams.
Pot 1
Man City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, PSG, Liverpool, Inter, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona
Pot 2
Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, Milan
Pot 3
Feyenoord, Sporting CP, PSV Eindhoven, Celtic, Young Boys, RB Salzburg, Dinamo Zagreb, Lille, Red Star Belgrade
Pot 4
Monaco, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest, Sparta Prague, Slovan Bratislava
Champions League draw format
Right, this is where the changes really kick in.
Every team will have to face two clubs from each pot – one at home and one away – for a total of eight matches in the league phase.
A team cannot face opponents from their own country and can only play a maximum of two sides from one country.
The teams will be manually drawn before a snazzy bit of software does its job to randomly pick their opponents and decide the venues for each game.
The Champions League draw will begin with the teams from Pot 1 and work down through to the bottom batch of teams.
Unfortunately, the fixture list will not be confirmed under Saturday, August 31.
Read More on the Champions League
- Shoot on over to Paddy Power News for the best Football Betting Tips & News
- Champions League new format explained: Everything you need to know for 2024/25
- When is the 2025 Champions League final? Date, time, city and stadium
- When is the Champions League draw? Date, time, TV and live stream
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