The UEFA Champions League is the premier competition in European club football, with the top sides battling it out on an annual basis to be crowned the best team on the continent.
2024/25 UEFA Champions League teams
A total of 81 teams will take part in the UEFA Champions League, with 56 participating in the initial qualifying rounds. These sides involved in the early rounds will be those based in UEFA's lower-ranked associations with 14 of these aiming to reach the knockout play-off stage.
Seven of those qualifiers will join the main group to form a 36-team league phase for the main body of the competition.
2024/25 UEFA Champions League format
The 2024/25 season sees a revamped format for the UEFA Champions League with 36 teams partaking in the league phase, with all teams in one group, as opposed to the previous format of 32 teams, split into eight groups of four.
UEFA Champions League format explained
UEFA Champions League final referee
Slavko Vincic refereed the 2024 UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund. The referee for the 2025 final will be confirmed after the finalists are known.
UEFA Champions League history
The competition was first introduced ahead of the 1955/56 season, with Spanish giants Real Madrid winning the inaugural European Cup, beating French club Reims 4-3 in the final.
The competition remained in the same format for the next 36 years, with only the defending champions and winners of the previous season's domestic leagues eligible to play.
However, that all changed ahead of the 1992/93 season, as Uefa rebranded the competition, renaming it the UEFA Champions League and introducing a group stage rather than just the straight knockout format that had previously been used.
The new-look tournament starting from the 2024/25 season will see the introduction of a 36-team league phase, before a standard 16-team knockout stage.
UEFA Champions League dates
The group stages matches will take place between September and January.
The UEFA Champions League will still be played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays as normal, though it will have one 'exclusive' matchweek, where there are no Europa League or Conference League matches, and on this week, the UEFA Champions League will host matches on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
For the final matchday of the UEFA Champions League group stage, all games will be played at the same time.
Matchday 1 | 17-19 September 2024 |
Matchday 2 | 1-2 October 2024 |
Matchday 3 | 22-23 October 2024 |
Matchday 4 | 5-6 November 2024 |
Matchday 5 | 26-27 November 2024 |
Matchday 6 | 10-11 December 2024 |
Matchday 7 | 21-22 January 2025 |
Matchday 8 | 29 January 2025 |
Knockout round | 11-12 February 2025; 18-19 February 2025 |
Round of 16 | 4-5 March 2025; 11-12 March 2025 |
Quarter-finals | 8-9 April 2025; 15-16 April 2025 |
Semi-finals | 29-30 April 2025; 6-7 May 2025 |
Final | 31 May 2025 |
When are the UEFA Champions League draws?
Full draw dates can be found below, with all of the knockout rounds after the play-off being drawn at the same time.
Round | Date |
First qualifying round | 18 June 2024 |
Second qualifying round | 19 June 2024 |
Third qualifying round | 22 July 2024 |
Play-offs | 5 August 2024 |
League phase | 29 August 2024 |
Knockout round | 31 January 2025 |
Round of 16, | 21 February 2025 |
You can see all the latest UEFA Champions League odds on our dedicated UEFA Champions League hub.
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