Cristiano Ronaldo’s Achievement: Cristiano Ronaldo has been recognized as the all-time highest goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League. The 39-year-old Al Nassr forward has scored a combined 140 goals in 183 Champions League appearances with Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus.
New Format Overview: The 2024-2025 UEFA Champions League introduces several changes to its format:
- League Phase: All 36 participating teams are placed into a single league phase rather than being drawn into specific groups. Teams are seeded into four pots and drawn to face two teams from each pot, with one home and one away match.
- Draw Software: The draw software ensures that teams from the same country do not face each other and no team plays more than two clubs from the same country.
- Qualification: The top eight teams in the league phase automatically qualify for the last 16. Teams ranked 9th to 24th will compete in a two-legged knockout play-off for a chance to advance. Teams finishing 25th or lower will be eliminated.
- Increased Matches: The number of matches increases from 125 to 189, with each team playing a minimum of eight and a maximum of 17 matches. The league phase extends until the end of January.
- Existing Format: The format from the last 16 onwards remains unchanged, with the final taking place at a neutral venue, set for Munich, Germany, this season.
2024-2025 UEFA Champions League Draw:
Draw from Pot 1:
- Manchester City: Inter Milan (h), PSG (a), Club Brugge (h), Juventus (a), Feyenoord (h), Sporting CP (a), Sparta Prague (h), Slovan Bratislava (a)
- Inter Milan: RB Leipzig (h), Man City (a), Arsenal (h), Bayer Leverkusen (a), Crvena Zvezda (h), Young Boys (a), Monaco (h), Sparta Prague (a)
- Bayern Munich: PSG (h), Barcelona (a), Benfica (h), Shakhtar Donetsk (a), GNK Dinamo (h), Feyenoord (a), Slovan Bratislava (h), Aston Villa (a)
- RB Leipzig: Liverpool (h), Inter Milan (a), Juventus (h), Atletico Madrid (a), Sporting CP (h), Celtic (a), Aston Villa (h), Sturm Graz (a)
- Dortmund: Barcelona (h), Real Madrid (a), Shakhtar Donetsk (h), Club Brugge (a), Celtic (h), GNK Dinamo (a), Sturm Graz (h), Bologna (a)
- Barcelona: Bayern Munich (h), Borussia Dortmund (a), Atalanta (h), Benfica (a), Young Boys (h), Crvena Zvezda (a), Brest (h), Monaco (a)
- Real Madrid: Borussia Dortmund (h), Liverpool (a), AC Milan (h), Atalanta (a), Salzburg (h), Lille (a), Stuttgart (h), Brest (a)
- Liverpool: Real Madrid (h), RB Leipzig (a), Bayer Leverkusen (h), AC Milan (a), Lille (h), PSV (a), Bologna (h), Girona (a)
Draw from Pot 2:
- Atletico Madrid: RB Leipzig (h), PSG (a), Bayer Leverkusen (h), Benfica (a), Lille (h), Salzburg (a), Slovan Bratislava (h), Sparta Prague (a)
- Atalanta: Real Madrid (h), Barcelona (a), Arsenal (h), Shakhtar Donetsk (a), Celtic (h), Young Boys (a), Sturm Graz (h), Stuttgart (a)
- Club Brugge: Borussia Dortmund (h), Man City (a), Juventus (h), AC Milan (a), Sporting CP (h), Celtic (a), Aston Villa (h), Sturm Graz (a)
The order of fixtures will be announced by August 31.
