Thomas Siniecki, Media365: published on Tuesday October 8, 2024 at 8:57 a.m.
OL, who open the ball on Tuesday against Galatasaray (6:45 p.m.), will unfortunately be the only French club on the program.
The formula
For the fourth season in a row, four groups of four teams constitute an extremely tough group stage, and for good reason since a first preliminary phase was a real obstacle course from which France did not emerge unscathed, far from it. need it. For the first time since the establishment of this formula, there will only be one French club on the starting line, Olympique Lyonnais of course, since the two Paris clubs (Paris Saint-Germain and Paris FC ) both failed – against Juventus for PSG, against Manchester City for PFC.
The group stage, which begins Tuesday and ends on December 18 in a classic manner (all the teams meet twice in six days), will continue with quarter-finals in March (first leg on the 18th and 19th, return on the 26th and 27), semi-finals in April (go on the 19th and 20th, return on the 27th and 28th) and the grand final in Lisbon at the end of May (the 23rd, 24th or 25th). The final table will be drawn in full on February 7.
The favorites (and the winners)
If OL is the only French club involved this season, it nonetheless remains one of the scarecrows with its record eight titles. However, the last two returned to FC Barcelona – including that of 2024 against Lyon (2-0) – which has a total of three crowns in four years. In line with world champion Spain, the Catalans are the new queens of Europe. Historically, Frankfurt remains located between OL and Barça with four coronations distributed between 2002 and 2015. Among the sixteen teams competing, Wolfsburg (two titles) and Arsenal (one title) have also enjoyed success.
The diffusion
DAZN, often mocked for its rather weak catalog despite taking over Ligue 1 at a certain cost, at least has the advantage of continuing as a broadcaster of the competition in France. But like previous seasons, these matches will mainly be offered free of charge by DAZN on its YouTube channel.
