The UEFA Champions League kicks off this week with a brand new format and an expanded number of teams and games.
Real Madrid took home last year’s title after beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Wembley, but the field is wide open as the 2024-25 competition begins.
Instead of playing six “group” games against the same three teams, this year’s Champions League competitors will play eight “league” games against a variety of teams from across the continent. While every team’s “league” setup looks different, each one has been adjusted for difficulty and should capture the same number of top-tier (Manchester City, Bayern Munich) and lower-tier (Sturm Graz, Slovan Bratislava) opponents.
Teams will receive three points for each win, one point for each draw and zero points for each loss in the “league” phase. Once all eight matchdays have been played, the eight teams with the most points will qualify for the knockout round. The next 16 will battle each other in a two-legged playoff, with the winners advancing and the losers getting eliminated from the competition.
By the time March rolls around, the Champions League will have whittled itself down from 36 teams to just 16, and its traditional knockout phase will begin.