On the evening of March 4, UEFA’s X homepage posted a detailed video describing the new format that the European Football Federation will apply to the tournaments they organize in the new 2024/25 season, with the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
Accordingly, from the 2024/25 season, the Champions League will have 36 teams and compete according to the “Swiss model” such as chess and some electronic sports. The 36 teams participating in the tournament will be seeded based on past achievements.
According to this model, in the first round, the first team meets the 36th team, the second team meets the 35th team.
In the second round, the first round winners will meet, the tied teams will meet and the losing teams will meet. Teams with higher scores later on will be more likely to clash, creating more great battles.
An exciting new era for European club football awaits 🤩
Here’s how the #UCL will look from 2024/25 👇 pic.twitter.com/mEffFOpX2O
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 4, 2024
After 10 rounds, the eight strongest teams will go straight to the 1/8 round. The next 16 teams will compete in a play-off to select the remaining eight teams in the 1/8 round. Teams from 17th to 24th will drop into the Europa League, while the bottom 12 teams will be eliminated.