Uefa Champions League 2024-25: all you need to know about new ‘Swiss model’ format
Goodbye groups, hello league: from 32 to 36 teams, matches in January and an extra play off round – a look at the new system
The Uefa Champions League returns on Tuesday, or early on Wednesday for those of us in Hong Kong, but the 2024-25 competition has a revamped format that is completely different from previous editions.
After a big rebranding in 1992, the format had generally been that of a group stage consisting of a total of eight matches per group, with four teams playing home and away, before entering a knockout stage.
In 1992-93, it was two groups with the winners meeting in the final, then came a semi-final before a first quarter-final of the Champions League era was introduced in 1994-95. In 1999, there was even the brief introduction of a second group phase.
Since 2003-04, there have been eight groups of four with two qualifying to the round of 16, followed by the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and the final. But not any more.
Now, it’s the “Swiss model”. But how exactly will it play out? Let’s take a look.
Since 1999-2000, the number of teams has been 32 in the group phase, but that has now increased by four. And the group phase is no more. It has been replaced by a league phase.
