UEFA Champions League Betting Odds

Understanding the New Champions League Format

The 2024-25 season came with significant changes for the UEFA competitions, including the Champions League, as the group stage was scrapped completely. Instead of the classic format, there is now a 'league phase' with all clubs listed in the same standings. There are also a total of 36 participating clubs instead of the previous 32.

While the group stage has been replaced, the qualification stage and the knockout stage have remained unchanged. The only exception is that one more team makes it through the qualification stage. We recommend checking out the official Champions League website if you want to find out more about how the qualification works, as it can be a bit complicated.

As for the new league phase, it consists of 36 teams that play eight games against eight different opponents each (home or away). The opponents are decided by the four ranking pots, which were previously used for the group-stage draw, as two teams from each pot are drawn. As per UEFA, this guarantees opponents of ranging quality.

At the end of the league phase, the teams in positions 1-8 qualify for the knockout phase. Those in positions 9-16, on the other hand, face one of the teams in positions 17-24 in a knockout play-off tie over two legs. The former group of teams is seeded and thus gets the advantage of playing the return leg at home.

The drawback of this new format, without a doubt, is the added games. In order to reach the knockout phase, a team must play at least 8 games (at most 10) instead of 6 as the previous format had it. Interestingly, none of the teams that get eliminated from the league phase will drop down to the Europa League, as was previously the case.