All About The UEFA Champions League 2025 New Format, Teams & Schedule

The UEFA Champions League is back with a new format for 2024/25. The upcoming season will see a new, expanded 36-team league phase format. Real Madrid FC enters the 2024-25 season as the defending champions, claiming their 15th title with their win over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley in May 2024. The league phase will feature 8 match weeks from September 2024 to January 2025, leading to the knockout rounds based on team performance. The draw for league phase fixtures will be held on August 29 2024, to finalise the remaining seven spots. Pots and rankings will also affect team placements. In this blog, we take a look at the UEFA Champions League 2025 new format, teams, schedule and final details.

All you need to know about the UEFA Champions League 2025 format, teams, schedule and final details

1. New UEFA Champions League format - How will the teams qualify from the league phase?

The UEFA Champions League is shifting to a new 36-team league format for 2024/25, with Real Madrid FC as the defending champions. Starting from the 2024-25 season, 36 clubs will compete in a single league phase instead of the present group stage format. Talking about the latest Football news, the 36 teams are slated to play eight matches against eight teams (four home and four away), and the top eight teams will directly qualify for the round of 16. Then, the teams ranked from ninth to 24th will go head-to-head in a knockout playoff. The best eight teams from the playoff will reach the Round-of-16 stage, while all other teams will be eliminated. The clubs that missed the round of 16 won't qualify for the UEFA Europa League. Out of the 36 league spots, 29 have been filled so far, with the remaining seven to be filled by the winners of the playoff rounds. The final stage will be played between August 20 and August 28 across two legs.

2. UEFA Champions League 2024-25 Season Pots

The 36 teams in the league phase will be divided into four pots, each with nine teams. These pots will be organised by UEFA's club rankings, which are determined based on the team's performances in continental competitions in the last five years. Real Madrid FC, the reigning champions and record 15-time winners, are once again among the favourites to win the prestigious trophy.

There is a chance that teams from the same country may end up playing each other in the league phase. However, the league champions are not guaranteed to be in the top pot, and other clubs from the same nation may be seeded higher. For example, in the case of Germany, FC Bayern Munich are in pot 1, while champions Bayer Leverkusen will be in pot 2 as they have had less success in Europe.

3. Schedule for the UEFA Champions League 2024-25 Season

The Schedule of the UEFA Champions League has also changed with the new format, most notably with the league stage now spanning September 2024 to January 2025. The new format will also introduce 'game weeks', where fixtures will be played on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the week. The last game week will see all 36 teams playing simultaneously to avoid potential collusion, with qualification and elimination still likely to be up for grabs. 

The new league format will kickstart with a 'preliminary' first knockout round for teams that finish between 9th and 24th. The top eight of the league phase will secure an automatic slot in the round of 16, where they will be seeded against winners of the preliminary round. The rest of the tournament will play out as previously. The UEFA Champions League 2025 Final will be held at FC Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena for the first time since 2012. Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool FC and Aston Villa will represent England in UEFA's top-tier continental competition.