An important moment is approaching in the history of the Champions League. Why? It's worth noting that starting from the 2024/25 season, the prestigious European club competition will debut a novel format, expanding from 32 to 36 clubs and switching from its usual group stage format to a league format. This is just the tip of the iceberg of a series of changes that we have already covered in FCBN.
One of the novelties lies in the system used to draw the match-ups between clubs. This draw will take place on Thursday, August 29 starting at 18:00 CET and in Spain, it will be broadcasted by Movistar Liga de Campeones, providing all the details of a draw that will happen at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco in Monte Carlo. This time, the draw will present a mix of both automatic and manual aspects.
Regarding the manual aspect, the ceremonial act of drawing balls from the four pots will be maintained, each containing the names of the 36 teams. Considering this number, it can be inferred that each pot will have a total of nine teams. However, what has changed is how the pairings between teams will be determined, which will be automated through software.
This automated process is designed so that the software pairs one team with two clubs from each pot, resulting in eight match-ups, four of which will be home matches and the other four away. This pairing will prevent matches between clubs from the same country and ensure that a team does not face more than two squads from the same country.
Who could FC Barcelona face in this league stage?
Now, focusing on FC Barcelona, what possible match-ups could they have? Initially, the Catalan club doesn't have many restrictions regarding their opponents, except for not being able to play against Spanish teams. In this regard, from pot 1, the only exception would be Real Madrid, as the competition's champion is in this pot. Therefore, Barcelona could face two top opponents from: Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, and RB Leipzig.
As for pot 2, Barcelona would initially not be able to play against Atletico Madrid, leaving them with two possible opponents from Bayer Leverkusen, Atalanta, Juventus, SL Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, AC Milan, and Shakhtar Donetsk. On the other hand, in Pot 3, there would be no restrictions on the matches, as there are no Spanish teams. The qualified teams include Feyenoord, Sporting de Portugal, PSV Eindhoven, Dinamo Zagreb, LOSC Lille, Red Star, Celtic Glasgow, RB Salzburg and Young Boys.
Finally, in Pot 4, the only exception would be Girona, as there are also AS Monaco, Aston Villa, Bologna FC, VfB Stuttgart, SK Sturm Graz, Stade Brestois, Sparta Prague and Slovan Bratislava. The new league phase starts on 17 September and will end on 29 January 2025. The top eight teams in the general table advance directly to the round of 16, while the clubs ranked 9th to 24th will play a play-off between 11-12 February and 18-19 February with two-legged ties to be drawn on 31 January 2025.