The Champions League is undergoing a major overhaul with more teams, increased prize money and a revamped format featuring additional matches against a wider range of opponents. The new draw took place on Thursday.
UEFA, responding to pressure from club officials for a more lucrative and competitive tournament, has introduced a single-standings league phase to replace the traditional group stage.
This marks the first major format change since 2003, delivering nearly everything Europe’s top clubs have long desired.
The tournament now features 36 teams, up from 32, with each team playing at least eight games instead of six.
For the first time, Champions League games will be scheduled in January. Prize money will rise by at least 25%, reaching a minimum of 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion).
The new competition will also feature rematches of recent finals.
Defending champion Real Madrid will face Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund.
Madrid defeated Dortmund in last season’s final and Liverpool for the titles in 2022 and 2018. Madrid will host Dortmund and travel to Liverpool, though the match dates are not confirmed until Saturday.
Manchester City will also have a Champions League final reunion, hosting Inter Milan, which it defeated to win the European title in 2023. Bayern Munich will host Paris Saint-Germain in a rematch of the 2020 final, which the German club won 1-0.
The traditional group-stage format, used for 21 seasons, is being replaced. Previously, 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four, playing six games each.
Teams played each group opponent home and away from September to December. The top two advanced to the round of 16, with a separate draw for each knockout round until the single-game final.
The new format introduces a single-standings league, where 36 teams will play eight games against eight different opponents through January. Teams will face two opponents from each of the four seeding pots.
The top eight in the standings will advance directly to the round of 16 in March. They will be seeded in a tennis-style tournament bracket with no separate draws for each round until the final. The 2025 final will be held at Bayern Munich’s stadium.
Teams ranked ninth to 24th will enter a knockout playoff round in February, with the bottom 12 teams being eliminated. In the playoffs, teams ranked Nos. 9-16 will be seeded to play second legs at home against unseeded teams Nos. 17-24.
Clubs wanted more money. The Champions League showcases the highest quality of play in world football and has allowed UEFA to direct billions of euros (dollars) from global broadcasting and sponsorship deals to clubs with the highest transfer fees and salaries.
Those clubs also wanted more prestigious games against a wider range of high-quality opponents. The group stage, they said, became too repetitive with only three opponents and lacked drama. More games against stronger opponents would be valued by broadcasters, viewers, and new fans worldwide.
Their leverage over UEFA included the potential to launch a breakaway competition. In early 2021, leaders of the influential European Club Association were negotiating Champions League reform with UEFA while also plotting their own Super League.
The Super League was launched by 12 Spanish, Italian, and English clubs in April 2021 but failed within 48 hours due to backlash from fans in England and threats of government legislation.
Despite this, the Champions League format, shaped largely by the rebel Super League clubs, was broadly approved by UEFA a year later and will kick off next month.
The 36 teams are guaranteed more money and global exposure. Players should benefit from more high-quality games to accelerate their development.
The extra games – 189 total compared to 125 in the past two decades – are set to confirm the Champions League as the pinnacle of club football.
Two additional match rounds in January give the Champions League a new foothold in the increasingly packed football calendar. However, could this overload players, many of whom looked fatigued at the 2024 European Championship, and ahead of FIFA’s month-long Club World Cup next June?
Eight of the Champions League round-of-16 teams will have played 10 games to reach that stage, compared to six in the old format. Europe will send 12 teams – 11 of them participating in this Champions League edition – to the new FIFA club tournament, each playing at least three and up to seven games in the United States next summer.
Will the extra prize money be spent wisely? Spending on player transfers has slowed in this European summer, though top players’ salaries continue to escalate.
Mid-ranked clubs in top domestic leagues, as well as leagues in lower-ranked countries, warn that the Champions League could create a larger wealth gap in European football and drive greater competitive imbalance.
“The need to play regular matches in Europe is a need from the clubs; it’s not a need for UEFA,” Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA deputy general secretary, said.
“Fans, meanwhile, will be asked to spend more time and money following their team – time and money which many simply do not have,” Football Supporters Europe, UEFA’s recognized fans’ liaison group, said.
“For us, playing as many European games as possible is one solution to have a good mood for our fans, our players, and financing our club,” Serhii Palkin, CEO of Ukrainian champion Shakhtar Donetsk, said.
