When does the 2024/25 Champions League start? League phase matchweek dates

The Champions League is back, but not as you know it. The 2024/25 season of European soccer’s elite club competition gets underway next month in a new format, featuring more teams and more games between top sides.

The structure of the new 36-team ‘Swiss model’ is designed to ensure greater competition and more matches between top teams. After this weekend’s fixtures Europe’s top leagues will pause for a two-week international break, before returning later in September.

As such, the first round of UCL league phase fixtures will be played across Tuesday 17 - Thursday 19, September. The expanded format will see eight league phase fixtures for each team, with the final round to be played on Wednesday 29, January Here’s the full schedule...

Individual fixtures have not yet been scheduled. UEFA will wait for the conclusion of the Europa League and Conference League draws before setting a fixture list, in order to prevent clashes with multiple games in the same city. The full fixture calendar will be released on Saturday, August 31.

What is the Champions League knockout schedule?

Once that first phase has been completed, the top eight teams in the league will advance straight to the Round of 16. Sides finishing between 9th and 24th will compete in a playoff round, with the eight victors progressing to the next round.

The Round-of-16 fixtures will begin across 4/5 March 2025, with the second legs to be played on 11/12 March. Here’s the full schedule for the knockout rounds of the Champions League...

It is hoped that the new format, as confusing as it may seem, will help to create more group stage meetings between top teams, while also offering smaller teams more opportunities to pick up points.

However the plan has been criticised for adding more games to the packed soccer calendar, coming at a time when many players are complaining about fixture congestion. Earlier this year Kylian Mbappé noted that top players may play close to 70 games a season, comparing it to the NBA.

“Personally, I’m not against playing that many matches, but we won’t be able to be good every time and give the public the spectacle they expect,” The Frenchman told British GQ. “In the NBA, players don’t play every game and franchises practice load management. But if I said: ‘I’m tired, I’m not playing on Saturday,’ it wouldn’t go down well.”