Portuguese football icon Cristiano Ronaldo was in attendance as UEFA announced the draw for the 2024-2025 UEFA Champions League in Monaco, France, on Thursday, August 29.
Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the all-time highest goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League during the draw. Recall that the 39-year-old Al Nassr star scored a combined 140 goals in 183 Champions League games for Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus.
How the 2024-2025 UEFA Champions League draw works:
Before the draw, UEFA announced some major changes to the format of the Champions League draw. In this new format, teams were not drawn into specific groups; instead, all 36 participating teams were placed in a single league phase.
Each team was seeded and placed into one of four pots. From there, each team was drawn to face two teams from each pot, with one match at home and one away.
To ensure fairness and diversity, the UEFA’s software decided the opponents for each team and whether they would be playing at home or away. The software prevented teams from the same country from facing each other, allowing for more diverse match-ups. Furthermore, no team can play more than two clubs from the same country.
How the 2024-2025 UEFA Champions League works:
Teams that finish in the top eight will automatically qualify for the last 16, while teams placing ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged knockout play-off for a chance to advance. However, teams ranking 25th or lower will be eliminated and will not be entered into the Europa League.
Additionally, the number of matches in the new format will increase from 125 to 189, with each team playing a minimum of eight and a maximum of 17 matches. The league phase will extend until the end of January instead of concluding before Christmas.
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The Champions League will continue to follow its existing format from the last 16 onwards, with the final taking place at a neutral venue, which for this season will be in Munich, Germany.
Below is the full draw for the 2024-2025 UEFA Champions League’s league phase:
Note that the order of fixtures was not announced today, August 29. It is expected to be made known on or before Saturday, August 31.
Draw from Pot 1:
Manchester City’s Opponents
Inter Milan (h)
PSG (a)
Club Brugge (h)
Juventus (a)
Feyenoord (h)
Sporting CP (a)
Sparta Prague (h)
Slovan Bratislava (a)
Inter Milan’s opponents
RB Leipzig (h)
Man City (a)
Arsenal (h)
Bayer Leverkusen (a)
Crvena Zvezda (h)
Young Boys (a)
Monaco (h)
Sparta Prague (a)
Bayern Munich’s opponents
PSG (h)
Barcelona (a)
Benfica (h)
Shakhtar Donetsk (a)
GNK Dinamo ((h)
Feyenoord (a)
Solvan Bratislava (h)
Aston Villa (a)
RB Leipzig’s opponents
Liverpool (h)
Inter Milan (a)
Juventus (h)
Atletico Madrid (a)
Sporting CP (h)
Celtic (a)
Aston Villa (h)
Sturm Graz (a)
Dortmund’s opponents
Barcelona (h)
Real Madrid (a)
Shakhtar Donetsk (h)
Club Brugge (a)
Celtic (h)
GNK Dinamo (a)
Sturm Graz (h)
Bologna (a)
Barcelona’s opponents
Bayern Munich (h)
Borussia Dortmund (a)
Atalanta (h)
Benfica (a)
Young Boys (h)
Crvena Zvezda (a)
Brest (h)
Monaco (a)
Real Madrid’s opponents
Borussia Dortmund (h)
Liverpool (a)
AC Milan (h)
Atalanta (a)
Salzburg (h)
Lille (a)
Stuttgart (h)
Brest (a)
Liverpool’s opponents
Real Madrid (h)
RB Leipzig (a)
Bayer Leverkusen (h)
AC Milan (a)
Lille (h)
PSV (a)
Bologna (h)
Girona (a)
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Draw from Pot 2
Atletico Madrid’s opponents
RB Leipzig (h)
PSG (a)
Bayer Leverkusen (h)
Benfica (a)
Lille (h)
Salzburg (a)
Solvan Bratislava (h)
Sparta Prague (a)
Atalanta’s Opponents
Real Madrid (h)
Barcelona (a)
Arsenal (h)
Shakhtar Donetsk (a)
Celtic (h)
Young Boys (a)
Sturm Graz (h)
Stuttgart (a)
Club Brugge’s opponents
Borussia Dortmund (h)
Man City (a)
Juventus (h)
AC Milan (a)
Sporting CP (h)
Celtic (a)
Aston Villa (h)
Sturm Graz (a)
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