Champions League draw 2024 – the way it works, the place can I watch it and when is it
The Champions League is set to return next month with the Premier League’s four teams competing in Europe’s elite club competition set to learn their fate later today.
Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester City qualified for the Champions League last term. Had this been last season, the Premier League quartet would have found themselves facing off against three other teams in the group stages.
However, in a shake-up of the competition, the Champions League has done away with the group stage this term, instead opting for a league table system. With the group stage gone, teams will also play an extra two games, four at home and four away.
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So, how will the Champions League actually work this season?
Worry not, Daily Star Sport has you covered with an explainer of the new competition format, as well as when it is and where you can watch the draw unfold…
How does the new Champions League format work?
All 36 of the teams competing in the Champions League this season will play eight games, four home and four away. They will face off against two teams from each of the four seeding pots. Liverpool and City are seeded in Pot 1 thanks to their strong UEFA co-efficient rankings.
Arsenal are seeded in Pot 2, while Villa are in Pot 4. However, like the group stages, teams from the same nation cannot face off against each other in the league phase of the competition. Additionally, teams can only play two teams from a different nation.
What do you make of the new Champions League format? Let us know in the comments section below.
(Image: UEFA via Getty Images)
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That would mean should, for example, Liverpool draw Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig as their Pot 1 opponents, they could not draw Bayer Leverkusen or Stuttgart later on in the draw.
Teams who finish in the top eight of the new league will qualify directly for the round of 16. Teams ranked ninth through to 24th, must face each other in a knockout play-off round to join the top eight in the round of 16. Teams from position’s 25 through to 36 are eliminated.
And once the league phase has concluded, the knockout stages will begin. There are no changes to how that portion of the Champions League works.
Who is in the Champions League?
Here are the pots for the Champions League this season…
Pot 1:Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, RB Leipzig
Pot 2: AC Milan, Arsenal, Atalanta, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica, Club Brugge, Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk
Pot 3: Celtic, Dinamo Zagreb, Feyenoord, FC Salzburg, Lille, PSV Eindhoven, Red Star Belgrade, Sporting CP, Young Boys
Pot 4: AS Monaco, Aston Villa, Bologna, Brest, Girona, Slovan Bratislava, Sparta Praga, Strum Graz, VfB Stuttgart
When is the draw? How can I watch it?
Coverage of the Champions League draw is set to begin at 5pm BST, with the draw commencing shortly after.
It will be broadcast like on TNT Sports 1. It will also be available to be streamed via TNT Sports YouTube channel, BBC iPlayer and the Discovery+ app.
When does the Champions League start?
Matchday 1 of the new revamped Champions League will begin on the 17th, 18th and 19th of September.
Previously, the group stage format is concluded before the turn of the year. But with the added two games, the new league phase is set to conclude on January 29 2025.
