This season’s Champions League will have a radically different feel and rhythm with Europe’s premier club competition switching to a 36-team ‘Swiss Model’.

It means four additional teams in the tournament and the end of the group stage. Instead, all the clubs play in one league. Each team will have eight fixtures before the knockout stages, four home and four away, against eight different opponents. Two from each of the four pots.

The top eight at the end of the league phase will be straight through to the last 16, with those between ninth and 24th facing an additional two-legged play-off. For more detail on the format click here.

This is all you need to know about the draw which will shape the first phase of the new-look competition.

When is the Champions League draw?

The fixtures for the league phase will be revealed on Thursday, August 29, at 5pm UK time.

Where is the Champions League draw?

It will be staged in Monaco at the Grimaldi Forum.

How will the Champions League draw work?

Technically, it is not really a draw at all. Uefa say that, given the new format, a manual draw would require nearly 1,000 balls in more than 36 bowls and take more than four hours.

Instead, starting with the supposed strongest teams in Pot One, each of the 36 teams will be drawn from a bowl. A supercomputer will then allocate them their eight league-phase fixtures, which will be shown on a screen for the audience and television viewers at home.

Once this has been done for the nine Pot One clubs, those in Pot Two will discover their other six fixtures (their two games against Pot One opponents having already been revealed). And so on.

Clubs from the same country cannot play each other in the league phase and you can only play two opponents from the same country. An exception could be made for the nation with five clubs in the competition to avoid deadlock, which this season is Italy.

The fixtures should take shape quite quickly and the process ought to be relatively speedy.

How can I watch the Champions League draw?

For UK viewers, the draw will be shown live on TNT Sports. Alternatively, you can follow our dedicated live blog on Thursday.

Which Premier League teams are in the draw?

Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa – the top four teams from the 2023/24 Premier League season

What could the four Champions League pots look like?

These are the 36 teams who have qualified:

Pot One: Man City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, PSG, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona

Pot Two: Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atlanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan

Pot Three: Feyenoord, Sporting CP, PSV, Young Boys, Celtic, Red Bull Salzburg, Dinamo Zagreb, Red Star Belgrade, Lille

Pot Four: AS Monaco, Sparta Prague, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Stade Brestois, Slovan Bratislava

When are the Champions League league-phase games?

The eight matchweeks are:

• September 17-19

• October 1-2

• October 22-23

• November 5-6

• November 26-27

• December 10-11

• January 21-22

• January 29

When will fans know the order and dates of their fixtures?

Uefa say they will be confirmed on Saturday, August 31.

Champions League 2024-25: How this season’s new ‘Swiss Model’ format works

Last season’s Champions League group stage was the last of its kind, with Europe’s premier club competition switching to a 36-team ‘Swiss Model’ from now on. The change is bound to prove contentious and adds more games to an already hectic calendar for players. This is how the new-look tournament will work, and what it means for Premier League clubs.

What will change this season?

More of a revolution than a revamp. It is the biggest change in format for 20 years, since there were two group-stage mini leagues before the knockouts. From this season, the competition will adopt the ‘Swiss Model’. Instead of groups of four, there will be one league of 36 teams. Each team will be drawn to play eight matches against different opponents, half at home and half away.

Why?

Uefa will trot out the usual line about evolving the competition. But the bottom line is that there are four more teams in the group stages and each club gets two more games. More TV broadcasting money, more gate receipts and more supporters travelling across the continent. If the competition were not making money, would they be adding to the calendar and making the group stage eight games over 10 match-weeks? At the moment there are six match-weeks.

Will it be more dramatic?

The draw seedings means there will be some big-hitters playing each other in the group stage. Manchester City, for instance, hardly got a mouth-watering draw last season when they faced RB Leipzig, Young Boys and Red Star Belgrade. This season the clubs will be split into four pots for the draw and every team will get two clubs from Pot 1. Potential for showpiece matches between Europe’s heavyweights.

But….

The top eight will automatically qualify for the round of 16, so they could secure a place early and then rest big players for important matches at the weekend. Those finishing between ninth and 24th go into two-legged play-offs. So every place counts. But if a team cannot finish in the top eight, does it matter too much who they face in the play-offs? The battle for 24th will be exciting.

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How many Premier League teams can qualify?

As with previous years, the top four will automatically make it through but there is room for three extra spots should everything fall into place. To bring in the four extra teams Uefa will reserve an extra spot to the country which performs the best overall across all three of their competitions.

It means five Premier League clubs can qualify although, in something of a surprise, that did not materialise last season. Arsenal and Manchester City were knocked out in the Champions League quarter-finals, while Liverpool and Aston Villa lost in the semi-finals of their respective competitions. Manchester United did not make it out of their Champions League group.

What happens to the teams who are knocked out?

There will be no buffer of the Europa League like years gone by. There will be some jeopardy lost there, as Manchester United were fighting for a Europa League place in their final group match this season. From now, those finishing 25th or below will be eliminated and use that old football adage – concentrate on the league. The Europa League and Europa Conference are also using the Swiss Model format.

Any other drawbacks?

Fans will be stretched to afford another trip to add to their schedule. If there are dead rubbers towards the end of the group stage, you could see supporters skipping matches. Uefa has made it pretty tough to get knocked out too. Finishing in the top 24 should not even be a minimum expectation for Premier League clubs. It will be a longer group stage but there are questions whether it adds to the drama of the whole tournament. Only Manchester United v Bayern Munich (1999) and AC Milan v Ajax (1995) saw group-stage matches repeated in the final – but there is a stronger possibility of that happening in this format. There is a bigger chance of repeat fixtures in the knockout stages from earlier in the season.

Has it worked in other sports?

The Swiss Model was devised for chess, but it is not a system used frequently in football. It is also used in croquet, although a more relevant use would be e-sports. So it is a step into the unknown for Uefa, although it was voted in unanimously so their executives must have faith in it.