The 2024–25 UEFA Champions League will be the 70th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 33rd season since it was rebranded from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.[1] This will be the first season under a new format, where in the league phase each team plays eight games against different opponents, but all 36 teams are ranked in a joint group.[2][3]
A total of 81 teams from 53 of the 55 UEFA member associations are set to participate in the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League (the exceptions being Liechtenstein which does not organise a domestic league and Russia which is currently suspended). The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[5]
The two associations who obtain the most coefficient points in the 2023–24 season will each have one European Performance Spot into the league phase. The winners of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League cannot fill the European Performance Spots.
Association ranking
For the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2023 UEFA association coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2018–19 to 2022–23.[6] The table reflects Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA.
Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, associations may have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:
(EPS) – European Performance Spot, the additional berths for associations who finished in the top 2 of the 2023–24 association coefficients
(TH) – Additional berth for UEFA Champions League title holders
(EL) – Additional berth for UEFA Europa League title holders
Association ranking for 2024–25 UEFA Champions League
28 champions from associations 26–28 and 30–55 (except Liechtenstein)[Note LIE]
Second qualifying round (28 teams)
Champions path (24 teams)
8 champions from associations 15–18 (except Russia)[Note RUS] and 20–24
2 champions from associations 25 and 29 as the teams with highest club coefficients, originally from the first qualifying round
14 winners from the first qualifying round
League path (4 teams)
4 runners-up from associations 11–14
Third qualifying round (20 teams)
Champions path (12 teams)
12 winners from the second qualifying round (champions path)
League path (8 teams)
2 runners-up from associations 8–9
1 third-placed team from association 6
1 fourth-placed team from association 5
2 runners-up from associations 10 and 15 as the teams with highest club coefficients, originally from the second qualifying round league path
2 winners from the second qualifying round (league path)
Play-off round (14 teams)
Champions path (10 teams)
3 champions from associations 11–13
1 champion from association 19 as the team with highest club coefficient, originally from the second qualifying round champions path
6 winners from the third qualifying round (champions path)
League path (4 teams)
4 winners from the third qualifying round (league path)
League phase (36 teams)
10 champions from associations 1–10
6 runners-up from associations 1–6
5 third-placed teams from associations 1–5
4 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–4
1 champion from association 14 as the team with the highest club coefficient, originally from the play-off round of the champions path
1 runner-up from association 7 as the team with the highest club coefficient, originally from the third qualifying round of the league path
2 associations (Italy and Germany) with the highest coefficients from the previous season each received an extra berth
5 winners from the play-off round (champions path)
2 winners from the play-off round (league path)
Preliminary knockout round (16 teams)
16 teams ranked 9-24 from the League phase
Knockout phase (16 teams)
8 teams ranked 1-8 from the League phase
8 winners from the Preliminary knockout round
The information here reflects the ongoing suspension of Russia in European football, and so the following changes to the default access list have been made:
The champions of associations 23 (Sweden) and 24 (Poland) will enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round (champions path).
As the Champions League title holders (Real Madrid) qualified via their domestic league's standard berth allocation, the following changes to the default access list have been made:
Shakhtar Donetsk as the club with the highest club coefficient that would otherwise have entered the champions path of the qualifying phase or play-off round, will enter the league phase instead of the champions path play-off round.
Dinamo Zagreb, as the club with the highest club coefficient that would otherwise have entered the champions path second qualifying round, will enter the champions path play-off round.
Ferencváros and Qarabağ, as the two clubs with the highest club coefficient that would otherwise have entered the champions path first qualifying round, will enter the champions path second qualifying round.
As the Europa League title holders (Atalanta) qualified via their domestic league's standard berth allocation, the following changes to the default access list have been made:
Benfica, as the club with the highest club coefficient that would otherwise have entered at any stage of the qualifying phase or play-off round, will enter the league phase instead of the league path third qualifying round.
Slavia Prague and Red Bull Salzburg, as the two clubs with the highest club coefficient that would otherwise have entered the league path second qualifying round, will enter the third qualifying round.
Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
TH: Champions League title holders
EL: Europa League title holders
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.: League positions of the previous season
EPS: The European Performance Spots given to clubs from the 2 associations with the highest coefficient points in 2023–24
The second qualifying round, third qualifying round and play-off round are divided into Champions Path (CH) and League Path (LP).
Russia (RUS): On 28 February 2022, Russian football clubs and national teams were suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[7] The tables reflect Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA competitions.[8]
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows.[9] Compared to past seasons, one "exclusive week" will be introduced in which Thursday will also be a matchday.[2][10][11] All matches in other weeks will be played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays apart from the final.
The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 18 June 2024.
The first legs will be played on 9 and 10 July, and the second legs will be played on 16 and 17 July 2024.
The winners of the ties will advance to the Champions Path second qualifying round. 12 of the 14 losers will be transferred to the Conference League Champions Path second qualifying round and 2 will be transferred to the Conference League Champions Path qualifying and receive a bye to the third qualifying round.
The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 19 June 2024.
The first legs will be played on 23 and 24 July, and the second legs will be played on 30 and 31 July 2024.
The draw for the third qualifying round will be held on 22 July 2024.
Seeding
A total of 20 teams will play in the third qualifying round – 12 in the Champions Path and 8 in the League Path. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients.[12] Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
The draw for the play-off round will be held on 5 August 2024.
Seeding
A total of 14 teams will play in the play-off round – 10 in the Champions Path and 4 in the League Path. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients.[12] Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
Location of Benelux and nearby teams of the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League league phase.
The draw for the league phase will be held on 29 August 2024.[13]
Sixteen clubs will be national champions. All teams will make their debut appearances in the inaugural league phase, while Aston Villa, Bologna, Brest and Girona will make their debut appearances since the introduction of the group stage. Brest and Girona will also make their debut appearances in European football.[14][15]
The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout phase, while the teams finishing in 9th to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure their path to the last 16, with teams ranked 9th–16th being seeded and hosting the second leg at home. The winners will join the top eight in that round. Meanwhile, teams that finish 25th or lower will be eliminated from all competitions, with no access to the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League.[2]