UEFA Champions League: Format explained for qualifying and league phase

The 2024/25 season saw an overhaul in the UEFA club competitions, with the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League seeing 36 teams - increased from 32 - compete in one league.

Below we look at the new format for the UEFA competitions as well as the dates for all the fixtures and draws throughout the campaign.

What is the Swiss system?

Previously, 32 teams would enter the group stage and be split into eight groups of four. Teams would be seeded prior to the draw to theoretically separate the best teams and prevent three or four all being drawn in the same group.

This season, however, teams will enter the same group, all competing for places in the knockout rounds. The Swiss system, as opposed to the old round robin style, will keep every team together, though only eight fixtures will be played by each team.

How does qualification work?

Qualification to the group stage itself is broadly unchanged. To accommodate the four additional teams, two European leagues were given an extra two spaces with two more slots allocated elsewhere, while the majority of teams will have to go through qualifying, either via the 'Champions Path' or the 'League Path'.

Qualification from the group stage will be automatically awarded to the top eight teams after the conclusion of all fixtures. Teams placed 9th-24th will play in the knockout round play-offs. This will be a two-legged tie, with the highest placed teams seeded and drawn against the unseeded lower placed teams. The winners will then be unseeded in the last 16, where they will face the sides who finished in the top eight of the group stage, with the rest of the competition unchanged from there.

How do UEFA Champions League fixtures work?

Previously, each team would play the other three teams in their group home and away. Under the new format, however, teams will have a fixture list drawn that will see them play only eight of the 36 teams, and either home or away, not both.

Teams will still be seeded as before, but teams will also face fixtures against two sides in their pot (as well as two teams from the other pots), meaning we'll see a number of heavyweight clashes early in the competition.

Will English clubs receive an extra UEFA Champions League place?

While it's still too soon to tell, England should receive an extra UEFA Champions League place for the 2025/26 season. This will be based on the average performance of clubs from each association, and although England missed out last term, there were a number of underwhelming European performances from the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Newcastle United.

How do UEFA club coefficients work?

Each team in European competition will earn points each season depending on their performance, with the allocation of points applying for the last three seasons (a different allocation was used prior to the inception of the Conference League). 

Points are awarded for teams competing in the first qualifying round of all three European competitions onwards. Teams eliminated in the first qualifying round for the Europa Conference League will earn one point. Teams reaching the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League will earn a minimum of four, three and two and a half points respectively, though for the Europa League and Conference League these aren't added to totals achieved for winning matches or qualifying. For example, if a Europa League team wins three group stage matches, they'll earn two points for each win for a total of six points (rather than six points for the wins and three points for participation).

Each group stage win earns two points regardless of the competition, while a draw earns one point. Knockout matches (except play-off rounds) earn the same points for wins and draws.

Winning a group is worth four points and two points in the Europa League and Conference League respectively, while finishing second is worth two and one points respectively. No points are awarded for winning a UEFA Champions League group, but five points are awarded for reaching the last 16.

One point is then awarded for reaching the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League. One point is awarded for reaching the semi-finals and final of the Conference League.

For example, in the 2022/23 season Manchester United earned 19 points based on the following:

• Group stage wins x5 (10 points)

• Group runner-up (2 points)

• Round of 16 participation (1 point)

• Quarter-finals participation (1 point)

• Knockout stage wins x2 (4 points)

• Knockout stage draws x1 (1 point) 

In the 2022/23 season, Manchester City earned 33 points based on the following:

• Group stage participation (4 points)

• Group stage wins x4 (8 points)

• Group stage draws x2 (2 points)

• Round of 16 participation (5 points)

• Quarter-finals participation (1 point)

• Semi-finals participation (1 point)

• Final participation (1 point)

• Knockout stage wins x4 (8 points)

• Knockout stage draws x3 (3 points)

How do UEFA association coefficients work?

UEFA association coefficients are used to determine the number of competition places allocated to each nation, and is based on that nation's collective performances in European competition.

For example, every English club's performance is added up and divided by the number of teams competing that year to give an association coefficient. The top nations will receive the most European places.

Where it changes slightly this year is that the top two nations from the 23/24 season will receive an extra UEFA Champions League place for the 24/25 season.

Prior to the knockout stages, England had a score of 13.625, lower than Italy's 14.000 and Germany's 13.642, however it is expected that the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa will significantly add to England's tally and secure a fifth UEFA Champions League place for the 24/25 campaign.

UEFA Champions League qualifying format

A total of 52 teams will enter UEFA Champions League qualifying and they will be divided into the Champions Path and the League Path.

The Champions Path will consist of 42 teams who won their domestic leagues last season, while 10 teams will contest in the League Path.

Five teams from the Champions Path and two from the League Path will go through to join the other 29 teams who have already been allocated a place in the group stage.

Some teams in both sections will be seeded or receive passes through rounds which are based on the UEFA Club Coefficients at the start of the season.

In the Champions Path, 28 teams will face off in 14 matches, which will feature a seeded and an unseeded team.

The winners will then be joined by 10 teams who were automatically allocated a second-round qualifying round place, to form 12 matches.

The victors in those games will then contest six third-round qualifying matches and the winners of those will be joined by four more teams to decide which five clubs will go through to the group stage.

In the League Path, four teams will contest the second qualifying round and the two victors will join six others in the next round.

Four teams will then go through to play for two group-stage places in the play-offs.

Check out the bet365 betting hub for all the latest UEFA Champions League betting odds.