UEFA has changed the Champions League format meaning that there will be no traditional group stage for the first time since 1992.
Manchester City, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool from the Premier League will be the first English teams to test out the new system which UEFA hopes will make for more clashes between the top teams.
The new format was approved in 2021, but the 2024/25 season will see its first iteration so there will be 36 teams in this year’s competition rather than 32.
How will the Champions League ‘League Phase’ Work?
The biggest change is in the early stages of the tournament as there will be no group stage anymore, but instead a league with all 36 teams vying for the top spots.
Each team will play eight games in the league phase, four at home and four away from home with the fixtures decided upon using a seeded pot system.
There are four pots, number one being the highest-seeded teams, for example, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid; and number four being the lowest-seeded teams, for example, Brest, Girona and Aston Villa.
Each team will play against two teams from each pot giving them eight league phase games which will end on Sunday 19 January in an 18-game finale to decide who goes through.
How many teams go through to the knockout stage?
After the league phase is complete, the teams that finished in the top eight will automatically go through to the Round of 16. Whereas, teams in positions 9-24 will enter a knockout playoff round to determine who goes through.
Teams from positions 25-36 will be eliminated from all competitions.
From there, the knockout stage is unchanged with two-leg games thinning the field down to two teams for a one-leg final in Munich on Saturday 31 May 2025.
