Champions League Draw 2024-25: Schedule of Dates for Group Stage Fixtures

The full 2024-25 Champions League schedule has been released, with the season kicking off on Sept. 17 with six matches.

This season marks the debut of the new format featuring 36 clubs, with the bottom 12 teams being eliminated at the conclusion of the league phase on January 29.

UEFA originally approved the format change in May 2022. The most notable change will see teams playing in one single league table, as opposed to the eight groups of four under the 32-team format.

The group format somewhat remains with four different pots of nine teams. The first pot features the reigning Champions League winner (Real Madrid) and the next eight clubs with the best coefficients.

Pots two through four are determined by club coefficient.

Pots

Pot 1: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona

Pot 2: Bayer Leverkusen, Atlético Madrid, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan

Pot 3: Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Dinamo Zagreb, Salzburg, Lille, Red Star Belgrade, Young Boys, Celtic

Pot 4: Slovan Bratislava, Monaco, Sparta Prague, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest

Each club will play two teams from each pot during the league phase. The new format means the total number of matches for the entire season will increase from 125 to 189.

After the league phase is completed, teams ranked in positions nine through 24 will advance to the knockout phase playoffs. The winning teams in the knockout phase will advance to the Round of 16. The top eight teams automatically qualify for the Round of 16.

Real Madrid will begin defense of its Champions League title on Sept. 17 against Stuttgart. There hasn't been a repeat winner since Los Blancos won three straight from 2015-16 to 2017-18.

The biggest obstacle standing in Real Madrid's way figures to be Manchester City. The two teams met in the quarterfinals last season, with Real Madrid advancing 4-3 on penalty kicks after they were tied at four on aggregate.

Arsenal will be looking to play spoiler after a busy transfer season that saw the club bring in Riccardo Calafiori, Mikel Merino and Raheem Sterling.