A new Champions League season is upon us. After Paris Saint-Germain finally got their hands on the trophy for the first time last campaign, clubs will once again start to battle it out to become football’s kings of Europe.
The draw for the league phase, which begins on September 16, takes place on Thursday. With five sides now qualifying via the Premier League and Tottenham Hotspur winning the Europa League last season while finishing outside the UEFA places, there will be six English teams among the 36 sides competing in this year’s tournament.
The Athletic has put together the all-important details for the league-phase draw.
Remind me again, what is the format?
Last season, the Champions League introduced a new 36-team format, which is set to be in place until at least 2027.
Rather than facing the same three sides twice as happened in the old group-stage version, this league phase has each team play eight games, all against different opponents.
For the draw, the clubs are split into four pots of eight based on their UEFA coefficient — a ranking system based on a team’s performances in UEFA competitions across the previous five seasons that helps determine their opponents for the league phase. Teams from the same country cannot play each other in this opening stage.
Following the conclusion of the league phase in January, the top eight teams in the table progress automatically into the round of 16 in March. Those that finish ninth to 24th will contest eight home-and-away play-offs in February to decide the other qualifiers for the last 16, with the eight beaten teams being eliminated from Europe for the rest of the season.
Teams are paired against two teams from each of the four pots, one home and one away. However, clubs from the same association cannot be drawn against each other, and nobody can face more than two opponents from the same association.
This changes from the knockout round, where teams from the same country can meet.
Did the league format work last season?
There were some thrills during the inaugural league phase, yes. Unexpectedly, holders Real Madrid, along with Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG and Juventus all finished in the play-off spots.
It did create more interesting and competitive first-stage ties. Many argued a negative of the traditional group format was that there were too many dead-rubber games in the final set of matches with the two places in each pool already decided. But there were plenty of surprise results in the league phase — Sporting’s 4-1 thumping of City in Lisbon, Aston Villa beating Bayern at home and Dortmund thrashing Barcelona 3-1 to name just three.
The final gameday of the league phase, with all 18 matches taking place at the same time, also created drama as the league table changed multiple times and there was uncertainty around whether some of the aforementioned big-name clubs would fail to make the knockout rounds.
The surprise league-phase results also made for interesting fixtures at the competition’s business end: Liverpool finished top of the league having won their first seven games but got drawn against eventual champions PSG in a blockbuster last-16 tie after the latter came only 15th, losing three of their eight games, then beat fellow French side Brest in their play-off tie.
Which teams are in which pot for the league phase draw?
Clubs will play against two teams from each of the four pots in their eight games, facing one from each home and one away. However, sides from the same association cannot be drawn against each other at this stage, nor can you play more than two opponents from the same association.
Pot 1
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Real Madrid (ESP)
Manchester City (ENG)
Bayern Munich (GER)
Liverpool (ENG)
Inter (ITA)
Chelsea (ENG)
Borussia Dortmund (GER)
Barcelona (ESP)
Pot 2
Arsenal (ENG)
Bayer Leverkusen (GER)
Atletico Madrid (ESP)
Benfica (POR)
Atalanta (ITA)
Villarreal (ESP)
Juventus (ITA)
Frankfurt (GER)
Club Brugge (BEL)
Pot 3
Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
PSV (NED)
Ajax (NED)
Napoli (ITA)
Sporting CP (POR)
Olympiacos (GRE)
Slavia Prague (CZE)
Bodo/Glimt (NOR)
Marseille (FRA)
Pot 4
Copenhagen (DEN)
Monaco (FRA)
Galatasaray (TUR)
Union Saint-Gilloise (BEL)
Qarabag (AZE)
Athletic Club (ESP)
Newcastle United (ENG)
Pafos (CYP)
Kairat Almaty (KAZ)
Why is the draw digital?
Cristiano Ronaldo took part in last year’s Champions League draw (Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images)
It’s to save time. UEFA says that if the entire draw were to be completed manually, around 1,000 balls would be spread across at least 36 bowls up on stage and the whole process would take over three hours. Last year’s digital draw, using UEFA’s automated software, instead took around 30 minutes, starting when guest Cristiano Ronaldo pressed a button to reveal City’s eight opponents.
UEFA uses software from AE Live, a company which has provided sporting draw services for more than 20 years, including for the FA Cup, FIFA, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and CAF, African football’s governing body.
When will the fixtures be announced?
The tournament’s fixture list, including match dates and kick-off times, will be published no later than this Saturday, August 30, allowing time for the draws of UEFA’s two other annual club competitions on Friday.
The league phase matchdays start on September 16-18 and conclude with matchday eight on January 28.
How can we follow it?
The Athletic will be blogging the draw live and it will be streamed on UEFA’s official website and YouTube channel. Viewers from the United Kingdom can also find it on TNT Sports and for those in the United States, it will be on Paramount.
When and where is the draw?
The draw will take place on Thursday, August 28, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, at 5pm UK (noon ET).
A day later, the draws for the Europa League and Conference League will happen at the same venue, starting at noon UK.
(Top photo: PSG celebrate winning last season’s final; Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
