Champions League draw: Start time today, teams, pots, fixtures and new format explained for 2024/25 season

The Champions League draw will commence later today.

Arsenal, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Liverpool are all set to discover what awaits them in the new-look opening league stage as Europe’s elite club competition goes through a period of significant change driven by Uefa.

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It is the biggest change to the tournament since the abolition of the second group stage during the 2002/03 season.

Here’s everything you need to know about the new format in the Champions League.

When is the Champions League draw?

The draw for the first stage of the 2024/25 Champions League will take place on Thursday August 29, 2024 at 5pm BST.

The Grimaldi Forum in Monaco will host the event.

Automated software will now randomly draw eight opponents for each team from four pots - two teams per pot - and allocate which teams will play at home and away.

What is the new Champions League format?

Instead of 32 teams being divided into eight groups of four, all 36 teams in this year’s competition will form a single opening league table.

Each of the teams will play four games at home and four away. The eight fixtures a team will play in total are two games more than teams played in last year’s edition.

After the initial phase, the top eight teams in the league table will advance directly into the last-16. Teams who finish between ninth and 24th will enter a play-off round, while teams who finish 25th and below will be eliminated from European competition altogether - with no consolation route into the Europa League on offer.

What is the seeding in the new Champions League format?

All 36 clubs have been divided into four pots based on their club coefficients at the start of the season. Each team will play against two from each pot, once at home and once away.

What teams have qualified for the Champions League?

All four pots have now been completed following the conclusion of the final play-off round ties on Wednesday night.

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

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

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

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

When will the Champions League fixtures be played?

Matchday 1: September 17-19, 2024

Matchday 2: October 1/2, 2024

Matchday 3: October 22/23, 2024

Matchday 4: November 5/6, 2024

Matchday 5: November 26/27, 2024

Matchday 6: December 10/11, 2024

Matchday 7: January 21/22, 2025

Matchday 8: January 29, 2025