The draw for the Champions League knockout stages on 29 August at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco marked the end of an era. That day, Gianluigi Buffon, the Italian national team’s iconic goalkeeper, invited by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), had chosen at random and by hand one of the nine teams present in the first hat, which brings together the best European teams.
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, guest of honour at the ceremony and the all-time leading scorer in Europe’s top competition, simply pressed a button: a computer was tasked with designating the opponents for each of the randomly drawn teams.
No more manual printing. More clubs involved, multiple groups disappearing in the initial phase… The use of software has become essential with the new format of the European Cup, designed to counter the semi-closed Super League project carried out by some of the richest clubs in Europe, such as Real Madrid – and which is being implemented for the first time in the 2024-2025 season.
36 clubs in contention instead of 32
For this edition, which officially begins on Tuesday 17 September, 36 teams are in the running, four more than before. France, fifth in the UEFA rankings, was thus able to benefit from an additional place. Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), AS Monaco and Stade Brestois, respectively 1Ahem2my and 3my from Ligue 1 last season, they qualified automatically.
Lille, who finished 4thmy of the national championship, had to defeat, during the summer play-offs, the Turks Fenerbahçe and Slavia Prague to get their ticket to the competition.
The four-team group stage leaves room for only one starting group
Until now organised into eight groups of four teams in its preliminary phase, the Champions League now consists of just one group of 36 clubs, a sort of single championship. However, to avoid this phase being endless, each team will face eight teams in the following configuration: four home games and four away games.
As in previous editions, clubs from the same country cannot compete at this stage of the competition. The “small teams” will face at least two teams of their level, while the considered big teams of Europe will compete against two other big names from the start.
The first matchday is expected to be a great one, with AC Milan vs Liverpool on Tuesday 17 September and Manchester City vs Inter Milan the following day. On the last day of this initial phase, 29 January 2025, all the matches will be played at the same time and not over two days. The stated objective is to preserve the suspense and the spectacle until the end.
The top eight qualified for the round of 16, play-off for the next round of 32.
At the end of this “ regular season”, which will end on January 29, 2025, a ranking will be established. The first eight teams will qualify directly for the round of 16 of the competition. They will have the advantage of being seeded and, therefore, will not face each other.
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On the other hand, the teams ranked among the top 9my and 24my The places will have to go through the play-offs to hope to reach the round of 16. The latter will be played in two-legged matches. The lowest ranked teams, between 25th and 36th place, will be eliminated from the competition and will not enter the Europa League as was the case until then.
The promise of more income
With this new Champions League format, UEFA is offering football fans a surplus of spectacle: whereas previously each team faced three other teams over six days of competition in the initial phase, eight days are now planned for this preliminary phase.
If this longer calendar is a concern for the participants in the game, who are already faced with overcrowded schedules, it has only one objective for its promoters: to guarantee the participating clubs higher revenues than in the past, through ticket sales, but also with an increased participation bonus: it goes from 15.64 million euros to 18.62 million euros. Overall, the total participation and qualification bonuses paid to the clubs increase by 20%, from 2 to 2.47 billion euros.
Big posters already for French clubs
PSG will face two major European teams in the first round: Bayern Munich on November 26 at the Allianz Arena in Germany, and English champions Manchester City on January 22, 2025, at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
The other French clubs were not spared from a draw. AS Monaco will host FC Barcelona in their first Champions League match on 19 September and will finish with a dangerous trip to Inter Milan on 29 January 2025.
Lille inherited the most difficult schedule with Real Madrid, Juventus, Atlético Madrid and Liverpool. Finally, Stade Brestois, in its first participation in the competition, will have to travel to FC Barcelona’s turf on 26 November, before hosting Real Madrid at the Roudourou stadium in Guingamp (Côtes-d’Armor), the winner of the last edition and eternal favourite of the competition.
