This is the Champions League draw and the new competition format that will debut this Thursday | Football | Sports

The new Champions League will begin this Thursday at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo (18:00) with a new draw in which the balls will have a lower weight than the algorithm. The updated format, partly a response to the same concerns that prompted several clubs, led by Real Madrid, to push for the creation of a Super League in 2021, includes more teams and more guaranteed matches for each, as well as a reformed competition system.

The group stage, which has been in place for 32 years since the reform of the original pure knockout system in the 1992/93 season, is replaced by a first stage with the introduction of a 36-team league instead of the 32 that had participated until the course was completed. Each of them plays only eight opponents from this league, one against each other, four games at home and four away. There is no longer a back and forth exchange as before the last edition, when the first stage featured groups of four teams that played each other twice against the other three. The classification of this league determines the composition of the play-off crosses. The top eight will advance directly to the round of 16, which will be played as usual in a round-trip format. The positions are very important because they indicate the standings: first and second, for example, will only be seen in the final on 31 May at the Allianz Arena in Munich.

The next 16 teams, between ninth and 24th place, will have to play an extra round of 16 to reach the last 16, also a round trip, with the teams between ninth and 16th place having home field advantage. UEFA have calculated that qualification can be achieved with an average of 7.6 points, i.e. with two wins and two draws.

Teams finishing between 25th and 36th are eliminated and none of them continue to play in the Europa League, as was the case in some cases before last season.

In the event of a tie on points, the position is determined by the goal difference; if not, by goals scored; or by wins away from home; or by the results of the opponents.

The complexity of the new competition, which begins with a league that is not a proper league but rather a tournament in which only some teams play but whose results are combined into a table, has also led to the creation of a new competition. The 36 teams are divided into four pots based on their coefficients. Each club will play two teams from each group, without facing their compatriots and without the possibility of facing more than two teams from the same league. Madrid, the last champions, and Barça start in the first pot along with City, Bayern, PSG, Liverpool, Inter, Dortmund and Leipzig. Atletico are second and Girona fourth.

The draw starts with one person drawing a ball with the name of a team on it. The algorithm will assign you eight opponents and decide which games you play at home and which you play away. Then the name of the other team will be revealed and the process will repeat. If this were done the traditional way, it would take a thousand balls, 36 urns and a huge amount of time.

The matches will be played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 18:45 and 21:00, except for the first and last days of the league. The first match will be played on Tuesday 17 September, Wednesday 18 September and Thursday 19 September, and there will be no Europa League or Conference this week.

There is also a surprise on the last day. It will be a pure carousel day: on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, all 18 games will be played simultaneously from 9:00 p.m., for two hours during which several positions in the league classification are expected to change, which will be a decisive factor for the transfers.

The sixteenth will be in February; the eighth in March; the fourth in April; and the semi-final in May. On the 31st of the same month, the champion will settle in Munich.

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