The Champions League stands in the pantheon of world soccer like a colossus, an epic story of feats and triumphs that has been both witness to and protagonist of the inexorable rise of European football. This season, however, the tournament will see its first major format change in 21 years.
From the 2024-25 season, Europe’s premier club competition will expand to 36 teams and replace the group stage with a new ‘league phase’ where each team plays eight matches against different opponents (four home and four away). The top two from each group qualify for the last 16, which will see the field whittled down over a series of two-legged knockout rounds until there are only two teams remaining in the final.
Domestic champions and runner-ups from the top European leagues automatically qualify for this phase, while stronger leagues (such as England, Spain and Germany) get up to four additional slots in the main draw that will be determined by their UEFA coefficient, which is calculated over five years.
The resulting 32 teams are then split into groups of four, where they play each other in a double round-robin. The winners and runners-up of each group then progress to a two-legged knockout round, where the winner becomes the champion of Europe. Ties are broken by head-to-head points, home goals, away goals and a goal difference advantage. In addition, if the teams are level on aggregate after extra time, away goals count as a tie-breaker.