What to know about the 2024/2025 UEFA Champions League draw

Following the completion of the playoff round on Wednesday, the 36 teams that qualified for the 2024-2025 UEFA Champions League have been split into four pots with nine teams each, ahead of today’s UEFA Champions League league phase draw on Thursday, 29th August 2024.

The league phase draw, which is the first of its kind, will be streamed live on UEFA.com from 5:00 p.m. Nigerian time and will reveal the fate and opponents of all 36 teams in the league phase ahead of the highly anticipated return of the Champions League on 17th September 2024 for the 2024-2025 season.

Here is a breakdown of the 2024/25 Champions League draw pots:

Pot 1
Real Madrid (ESP)
Manchester City (ENG)
Bayern München (GER)
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Liverpool (ENG)
Inter (ITA)
Dortmund (GER)
Leipzig (GER)
Barcelona (ESP)

Pot 2
Leverkusen (GER)
Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
Atalanta (ITA)
Juventus (ITA)
Benfica (POR)
Arsenal (ENG)
Club Brugge (BEL)
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
AC Milan (ITA)

Pot 3
Feyenoord (NED)
Sporting CP (POR)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
GNK Dinamo (CRO)
Salzburg (AUT)
Lille (FRA)
Crvena Zvezda (SRB)
Young Boys (SUI)
Celtic (SCO)

Pot 4
Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
Monaco (FRA)
Sparta Praha (CZE)
Aston Villa (ENG)
Bologna (ITA)
Girona (ESP)
Stuttgart (GER)
Sturm Graz (AUT)
Brest (FRA)

According to UEFA, the draw process will begin with Pot 1, where each of the nine teams will be sequentially assigned eight opponents. This process will then proceed with the remaining pots in descending order until every team has their eight opponents. The software that will be used for the draw will ensure complete randomness within the established draw conditions set by the regulations, such as maintaining country protection and limiting teams to no more than two opponents from the same country. It also ensures the draw can be finalised for all teams without any risk of a deadlock.

Although teams will know their opponents once the draw is completed, the fixture schedule, including match dates and kick-off times, will be determined and released on Saturday, 31st August. This scheduling will prevent calendar conflicts with teams participating in the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League in the same cities.

UEFA recently announced the replacement of the traditional group stage format with a “Swiss-style” league phase. Instead of the usual four groups of four teams, the new structure features 36 teams competing in a single league phase. Each team will now play eight matches, four at home and four away, against different opponents, compared to the six matches in the previous group stage.