UEFA Champions League format change: groups, knockout, league table

After four rounds of fixtures in the 2023/24 season the Champions League group stages are starting to take shape.

The likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City have already booked their spots in the knock-out rounds and look set to top their groups in the final season of the four-team group stage. After this year’s tournament there will be some major changes to the Champions League’s structure, with the current system replaced by a single league table of all 36 teams in the competition.

It’s a big change for European soccer’s number one club competition. We take a look at how those changes will play out in 2024/25...

How does the Champions League work now?

On Thursday 31 August 2023, UEFA conducted the annual Group Stage draw for the UEFA Champions League. The 32 qualifying teams were divided into eight groups of four teams.

Before the Champions League’s winter break each team will play their group opponents twice, once home and once away. The top two teams of each group go through to the Round of 16; the third-placed teams will drop into the Europa League. The eight teams who finish bottom of their groups will be eliminated from European competition for the season.

How many teams are in the new Champions League format?

However, that is all about to change. The new format for the UEFA Champions League features an additional four teams, taking the total number to 36, all in a single league.

Within that league teams will be divided into four pots of nine. Pot One will have the reigning Champions League winners, along with the eight clubs with the best coefficients.

Full screen

How will the new format work in the Champions League?

During the first round of the 2024/25 competition there will be eight games for each club; four at home and four away.

The group stage will finish at the end of January, instead of December. At the end of the eight rounds, the top eight teams will qualify directly to the Round of 16. The teams from 9th to 24th place will play in a two-legged qualifying round. The remaining teams will be eliminated.

From the Round of 16 onwards the competition will continue in the same format as was used in previous years, with two-legged knock-out ties leading up to a single-legged final.

Why is it called ‘the Swiss model’?

The name, bizarrely, comes from chess. In a Swiss-system chess tournament players are ranked in a league table, despite not playing against every other competitor. The same thing is now set to happen in the Champions League.

In the new-look Champions League teams will play two fixtures - one home and one away - against opponents from each of the four seeding pots. This ensures that, while not everyone will play each other, they will have had a roughly equivalent set of eight matches against teams of varying quality.

Full screen

Will the teams be seeded for the fixture list draw?

In the 2024/25 shake-up teams will play group stage fixtures against opponents from the same pot as them. This means that we could see Bayern Munich and Manchester City playing against each other in the group stages, a prospect that is unlikely in the current format.

Every team in the group stages of the Champions League will face two teams from Pot 1, two from Pot 2, two from Pot 3 and two from Pot 4.

Why have UEFA changed the format?

The new format, according to UEFA, is “designed to secure the positive future of European football at every level and meet the evolving needs of all its stakeholders.”

The final for the 2024/25 Champions League is set to be hosted at the Allianz Arena in Munich on 31 May 2025.

These radical changes are not limited to the Champions League. Both the Europa League and the Conference League will also move to the Swiss Model in 2024.

Their capacity will increase from 32 to 36, just like in the Champions League. There will be eight group-stage games in the Europa League, but only six in the Conference League.