The Champions League resumes its rights this Tuesday, September 17, with four French clubs in the running. Find out everything you need to know about the premier competition of European football.
On which channel can I watch the Champions League?
The entire Champions League will be broadcast by Canal+ this season, which also holds the rights to the Europa League and the Conference League. The encrypted channel has also bought the broadcast rights to these competitions for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons.
When and at what time will the matches take place?
The first of the 8 days will take place from Tuesday 17 to Thursday 19 September. The last day will be held on 29 January. On this day, the eighteen matches will take place simultaneously at 9pm. The rest of the time, there will be two matches at 6:45pm and the others at 9pm.
Also readRemedy for the Super League, new format, four French clubs involved… The Champions League has had a makeover
Why matches on Thursday?
The first day of the 2024-25 Champions League will see matches played on Thursdays. An anomaly, since C1 evenings usually take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. UEFA made this choice in order to spread out the matches more and offer better exposure to its premier competition, which is inaugurating a new format.
The Europa League and Conference League will not start until a week later. Everything will then return to normal: the C1 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the C3 and C4 on Thursdays. Monaco and Brest will launch their European seasons on Thursday, September 19.
SEE ALSO – The new format of the Champions League explained in video
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What does this new format change?
The first thing is the number of matches. There were six in the group stage, now there are eight for the “league stage”. It is called this because the 36 teams will be placed in a single league. The top 8 will qualify for the round of 16. There will be two-legged play-offs between the teams in the 9e at 24e place to complete these round of 16. The teams of the 25e at 36e places will be eliminated.
The other big news is that teams from pot 1 now face two other teams from that pot. Same thing for pots 2, 3 and 4, but 1 is more interesting because it means more clashes (Liverpool-Real, Barça-Bayern, PSG-Manchester City, Inter-Arsenal…).
Is there still a transfer in the Europa League?
No. UEFA has removed the transfer to a lower European competition. An eliminated team will no longer have a second chance elsewhere.
Who is the favorite?
How can we not think of Real Madrid? The title holder has kept its backbone and welcomed Kylian Mbappé. However, it will have to overcome Manchester City, winner in 2023 and eliminated by Real on penalties in the quarter-finals last season.
Behind these two ogres, we will have to follow Bayern Munich, now coached by the young Vincent Kompany (38 years old), Inter Milan, finalist in 2022, Liverpool who are starting a new cycle after the departure of coach Jürgen Klopp, and obviously PSG. Luis Enrique advocated patience last season. His team still reached the last four, beaten by Dortmund (1-0, 0-1).
Lee Smith/REUTERS
What can we expect from French clubs?
As we have just said, PSG is one of the contenders for the title, even if it is not at the top of the food chain. Lille and Monaco are rather aiming for a play-off place (between 9e and 24e), which would already be a great performance. Same objective for Brest since, in any case, it is impossible to aim lower.
However, it would be a major feat for the Finistère club, which will play in the first European competition in its history. As the Francis Le Blé stadium is not approved, Brest will host its opponents at the Roudourou stadium in Guingamp. It is therefore in Côtes-d'Armor that Real Madrid will travel on January 29.
Is France still playing for high stakes in the UEFA coefficient?
Yes, but it is in a strong position. The top four in the UEFA coefficient, calculated on the basis of the clubs' results over the last five seasons, have four clubs directly qualified for the Champions League, compared to three for the 5e (France), two for the 6e (Netherlands) and one for the 7e (Portugal). France could well consolidate its position this season because it has 6 representatives in Europe, including 4 in C1, against 5 in total for the Netherlands including 2 in C1.
A major advantage, because finishing last in the league phase of the Champions League brings as many points as being first in the Europa League. Of course, every result counts: 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw and zero for a defeat. Finally, the 2020-21 season, where the Dutch did better than the French, will no longer be taken into account in the future.
Will records fall?
Yes, of course, since there are more matches. The finalists will play between 15 and 17 matches, something never seen before in the Champions League. This will encourage all sorts of records, such as the number of goals in a season. We will still have to go and find Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 17 goals in 11 matches in the 2013-14 season.
In the scorers' ranking, Kylian Mbappé (25 years old) is two goals short of equaling Filippo Inzaghi and entering the top 10. Erling Haaland (24 years old) is nine short of doing the same. Madrid players could also make history. Dani Carvajal and Luka Modric can become the first players to lift the big-eared cup 7 times. Finally, Carlo Ancelotti can win a 6e Champions League. Knowing that no other coach has won it more than 3 times.
Where will the final take place?
The final will take place on May 31, 2025 at the Allianz Arena in Munich, home of Bayern. It was already held there in 2012. Bayern then lost to Chelsea on penalties. This will be the 9e final in Germany, as many as in England and Italy. In 2026, it will be in Budapest, Hungary, a first.
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