UEFA Champions League 2024-25: How does the new format and draw work - EXPLAINER

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The Champions League draw is scheduled to take place in Monaco on Thursday, and it will be a different format this time. The matches will get underway in September, but fans will be interested to see how the new format works out.

The new Champions League season will see 36 clubs fight in the main round, and it is an increase from 32 under the old format. There is an extra place for the fifth-best European league, according to UEFA rankings, which means Ligue 1 will now have three automatic qualifiers.

How does the new UEFA Champions League draw and format work?

Since 2003, the Champions League consisted of 32 groups separated into eight groups of four, with the top two from each entering the last 16. But this season onwards, we will see 36 clubs pooled together in one league in a 'Swiss system'. The clubs will each have eight games, one each against their eight opponents.

The 36 teams will be split into four seeded pots of nine, and each team will play two teams from each pot, one at home and one away. Meanwhile, no other team will face another club from the same domestic league as them, and every club can only face a maximum of two teams from any one country. Earlier, group stage ended in December, but now the expansion will see two more extra matchdays, which will be staged in January.

Meanwhile, the number of group stage games will also increase from 96 to 114.

It will also be a hybrid draw, and each team will be manually drawn out. It will be done digitally, and take little more than a second per team. Also once a team is picked manually, the software will decide the opponents, match venues.

The 36 clubs will be ranked together and the top-right will qualify for the round of 16, and it will also be seeded. Also in addition, a playoff round will also be there, with teams finishing from ninth to 24th in the league phase, going through to a two-legged knockout tie to decide the other remaining spots of Round of 16. The playoff ties will also be seeded.