27/8/2024–|Last update: 8/27/202403:08 PM (Makkah Time)
The draw for the new UEFA Champions league will be held on Thursday, August 29, 2024, at 7:00 PM Mecca time, in the French city of Monaco.
The competition will be attended by 36 teams instead of 32, with the aim of occupying the first eight places in the standings qualifying directly for the round of 16. The remaining eight tickets to the same round will be booked through play-off matches.
The group stage in the next edition includes:
- The 36 teams are divided into 4 levels.
- Each team plays 8 matches against 8 different teams.
- Each team faces two different teams from each level, with one match at home and one away.
- The teams placed 9th to 24th will meet in a play-off to qualify for the round of 16.
- The clubs placed 25th to 36th are eliminated from all continental competitions. In the knockout stages, the teams meet home and away, except for the one-legged final.
The complexity of a draw of this type, as well as its duration if conducted entirely manually as in previous years, prompted the European Football Association (UEFA) to automate the process.
A specialized company will provide a program to conduct the draw directly and determine the eight competitors for each team chosen after manually drawing its ball from the bowl placed on the stage.
All 36 teams, from those in League One to League Four (or Six in the Europa Conference League), will see their balls drawn randomly from a pot, before their opponents’ identities are revealed in real time.
The computer must meet two criteria:
- No team can face an opponent from the same league (same country).
- It cannot face more than two teams from the same country. For example, Paris Saint-Germain cannot face Monaco, nor can it face three teams from the English Premier League.
The computer decisions will be verified instantly by two independent systems, and everything will be verified and supervised by the audit firm.
The first round matches schedule will be available on Saturday, August 31.
30 teams out of 36 have secured their places in the main continental championship, namely:
- England (4): Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa.
- Spain (4): Real madrid, Barcelona, Girona, Atletico Madrid.
- Germany (5): Bayer Leverkusen, Stuttgart, Bayern Munich, Leipzig, Stuttgart.
- Italy (5): Inter, Milan, Bologna, Juventus, Atalanta.
- France (3): Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco, Brest.
- Netherlands (2): Eindhoven, Feyenoord.
- Portugal (2): Sporting, Benfica.
- Belgium (1): Club Brugge.
- Scotland (1): Celtic
- Austria (1): Sturm Graz.
- Ukraine (1): Shakhtar Donetsk.
There are 7 places left to be decided in the qualifiers.
The identities of the teams in the first and second levels were decided, and they are:
Level 1
- Manchester City
- Bayern Munich
- real madrid
- Paris Saint Germain
- Liverpool
- Inter Milan
- Dortmund
- Leipzig
- Barcelona
Level 2
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Atletico Madrid
- Atalanta
- Juventus
- Benfica
- Arsenal
- Club Brugge
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- Milan
Several teams also settled in the third and fourth levels:
Level 3
- Feyenoord and Eindhoven
- Sporting
- Celtic
Level 4
- Monaco
- Aston Villa
- Bologna
- Girona
- Stuttgart
- Brest
- Sturm Graz
UEFA Champions League Group Stage Matches Schedule
- Matches of the first day: From 17 to 19 September.
- Matches of the second day: October 1-2.
- Matches of the third day: October 22-23.
- Matches of the fourth day: November 4th and 6th.
- Matches of the fifth day: November 26-27.
- Matches of the sixth day: December 10th and 11th.
- Matches of the seventh day: January 21-22, 2025.
- Matches of the eighth day: January 29, 2025.
- Qualifying matches for the round of 16: February 11, 12, 18, 19, 2025.
- Round of 16 matches: March 4, 5, 11, 12, 2025.
- Quarter-final matches: April 8, 9, 15, 16, 2025.
- Semi-final matches: April 29-30 and May 15-16, 2025.
- Final: May 31 at the Allianz Arena, home of Bayern Munich.
Broadcasting channels
The draw will be broadcast live on beIN Sports and UEFA.com.
Live coverage of the draw can be followed on Al Jazeera Net.
