When is the first round of Champions League games? UCL schedule

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’ will become clear on Thursday as the Champions League draw churns out the fixture list for the group stage games. After this weekend’s fixtures Europe’s top leagues will pause for a two-week international break, before returning in late September.

As such, the first round of UCL group stage fixtures will be played across Tuesday 17 - Thursday 19, September. The expanded format will see eight group stage fixtures for each team, with the final round to be played on Wednesday 29, January Here’s the full schedule for the 2024/25 group stage fixtures...

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.”