THE Champions League is back – and it’s here with a sparkling new format and MORE teams than ever before!
Premier League sides Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool and Aston Villa will today learn their league phase fates – a brand-new component of Europe’s elite club competition.
Jude Bellingham’s Real Madrid and Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich are also in the draw and could face some big opposition early doors.
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Find out all the latest reaction from the Champions League draw with our live blog below…
New era
Uefa say the new rules will improve the tournament and help keep the Champions League as “the best for clubs, players and fans.”
Time for AI
Gone are the days of awkward ex-pros painstakingly fumbling around trying to open plastic balls during a snooze-fest of a draw.
Now, after the first team is pulled out manually, someone presses a button and AI does the rest.
Let’s hope it works!
Reminder of the pots this evening
Pot 1
Real Madrid (ESP)
Manchester City (ENG)
Bayern München (GER)
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Liverpool (ENG)
Inter (ITA)
Dortmund (GER)
Leipzig (GER)
Barcelona (ESP)Pot 2
Leverkusen (GER)
Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
Atalanta (ITA)
Juventus (ITA)
Benfica (POR)
Arsenal (ENG)
Club Brugge (BEL)
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
AC Milan (ITA)Pot 3
Feyenoord (NED)
Sporting CP (POR)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
GNK Dinamo (CRO)
Salzburg (AUT)
Lille (FRA)
Crvena Zvezda (SRB)
Young Boys (SUI)
Celtic (SCO)Pot 4
Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
Monaco (FRA)
Sparta Praha (CZE)
Aston Villa (ENG)
Bologna (ITA)
Girona (ESP)
Stuttgart (GER)
Sturm Graz (AUT)
Brest (FRA)Credit: EPA
Fill up your calendar
The league phase:
- Matchday 1: 17/18/19 September
- Matchday 2: 1/2 October
- Matchday 3: 22/23 October
- Matchday 4: 5/6 November
- Matchday 5: 26/27 November
- Matchday 6: 10/11 December
- Matchday 7: 21/22 January
- Matchday 8: 29 January
Knockout stage:
- Knockout round play-offs: 11/12 & 18/19 February
- Round of 16: 4/5 & 11/12 March
- Quarter-finals: 8/9 & 15/16 April
- Semi-finals: 29/30 April & 6/7 May
- Final: 31 May
Road to Munich
The final will take place at Bayern Munich’s stunning Allianz Arena home on Saturday 31 May 2025.
Champions League Thursday
We are used to Champions League on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the Europa and Conference on Thursday… well, even that has been changed.
The majority of weeks will be in standard form – but now each competition will have one exclusive week each.
This means Champions League games will be played on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during just their exclusive week, which happens to be matchday one on September 17, 18 and 19.
The Europa and Conference won’t be on during those days.
But they then get the same exclusive week treatment later on in the campaign.
Credit: AP More matches, more time
As we saw in that complex and controversial Carabao Cup draw last night, the extra two matches in the revolutionised group stage will have knock on effects.
We are used to the group stage being done by December – but it will now not be finished until the end of January.
So fans of City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Villa – it is time to get next year’s diary out already.
Less “dead matches”
Uefa are confident that this new style of European competitions will lead to less meaningless group stage games and top teams meeting each other sooner.
The top eight from all 36 teams after the “league phase” go straight through into the last-16 and are seeded. Think of a tennis-like draw.
Those that finish ninth to 24th get put into a play-off to join them as the non-seeds in the knockout stage.
The bottom eight are out – there is no more dropping into the Europa League.
NEW Champions League draw explained
The Sun’s Head of Sport, Shaun Custis and Chief Sports Reporter Martin Lipton take you through all the changes to this season’s Champions League.
The Sun’s Shaun Custis and Martin Lipton break down the new changes for the UEFA Champions League format for 2024/25
The stage is set
Today marks the first-ever Champions League league phase draw, with 36 teams set to compete in the first stage of the huge European competition.
Each club will draw two teams from each pot of the four pots, playing one match at home, and one away and eight in total.
Premier League sides Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Aston Villa will all learn their fate.
Credit: AFP Ronaldo award
Cristiano Ronaldo will be presented with an award at tonight’s Champions League draw.
The five-time winner is set to be recognised for his status as the competition’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Ronaldo scored 140 goals in 183 Champions League matches across a period of over 18 years.
His nearest rival Lionel Messi is 11 goals back, whilst third-ranked Robert Lewandowski is 46 goals behind.
Credit: AP Pots explained
Pots are no longer as important now the Champions League has moved to a single league table format.
Being in pot one no longer increases the chances of a simple route to the last 16.
Clubs will be drawn using AI against two teams from each of the four pots during today’s draw.
However, they can only be drawn against no more than two clubs from the same country.
How to watch the draw
The draw for the league phase of this season’s Champions League is coming up at 5pm from Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Fans can live stream the ceremony via multiple different platforms.
On traditional TV, the draw will be broadcast live on TNT Sports 1.
TNT Sports customers can also live stream the event via the discovery+ app and website.
Fear not if you are not if you are not a TNT Sports customer – you can live stream the draw for FREE via the official TNT Sports YouTube channel.
Uefa.com and BBC iPlayer will also be providing free streams of the huge event from Monaco.
Draw pots
Here are the four seeded pots for today’s Champions League draw.
Champions League league phase pots
Pot One:
- Real Madrid
- Manchester City
- Bayern Munich
- PSG
- Liverpool
- Inter Milan
- Borussia Dortmund
- RB Leipzig
- Barcelona
Pot Two:
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Atletico Madrid
- Atalanta
- Juventus
- Benfica
- Arsenal
- Club Brugge
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- AC Milan
Pot Three:
- Feyenoord
- Sporting Lisbon
- PSV
- Dinamo Zagreb
- Red Bull Salzburg
- Lille
- Red Star Belgrade
- Young Boys
- Celtic
Pot Four:
- Slovan Bratislava
- Monaco
- Sparta Prague
- Aston Villa
- Bologna
- Girona
- Stuttgart
- Sturm Graz
- Brest
New format explained
This season’s Champions League introduces a new format with the group stage replaced by a league phase.
There will now be one league table involving all 36 qualified teams.
Each club will play eight matches during the league phase – four at home and four away.
Clubs will play two teams from each pot and cannot face more than two teams from the same country.
The top eight clubs will advance straight through to the last 16, with those ranked ninth to 24th going through a play-off round.
Welcome
Welcome to SunSport’s live blog for today’s Champions League league phase draw.
The draw is taking place at 5pm at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
