UEFA have revealed how the Champions League draw will be conducted under the new format
The playoff round of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League qualifiers kicks off today, and next week, the final list of the 36 teams that will compete in the main stage of the tournament will be confirmed.
This season, the Champions League will be played under an entirely new format. Instead of a traditional group stage, all 36 teams will compete in a single league. Each team will play 8 matches against 8 different opponents.
This new format complicates the draw process, so for the upcoming season, it will be conducted not manually, but through a special computer program provided by AE Live. Today, UEFA released a video demonstrating how the draw will be conducted.
The draw will start with the first pot, where all nine teams will sequentially be assigned eight opponents, and then proceed with the remaining pots in descending order until every team has its eight opponents. The software ensures complete randomness within the conditions of the draw regulations, guaranteeing that each team will face two opponents from each of the four pots.
So far, 29 participants are confirmed:
- Spain: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Girona, and Atlético Madrid
- England: Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Aston Villa
- Italy: Inter, Milan, Juventus, Atalanta, and Bologna
- Germany: Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Stuttgart, and RB Leipzig
- France: PSG, Monaco, and Brest
- Portugal: Sporting Lisbon and Benfica
- Netherlands: PSV and Feyenoord
- Belgium: Club Brugge
- Scotland: Celtic
- Austria: Sturm Graz
- Ukraine: Shakhtar Donetsk
The league stage draw is scheduled for August 29. You can watch the live broadcast on the official UEFA website and through broadcasters with rights to the Champions League in your country.
Kenley Ward
Dailysports's expert
