With a reformatted competition structure, the UEFA Champions League has now embarked on a new era of the top European competition.
The old group stage has been scrapped and replaced by the "league phase", which places all 36 teams — up from the previous 32 — in a single league table. Each team was assigned into one of four pots and then handed an eight-team schedule, with four games at home and four on the road, one from each pot. The top eight teams in the final table qualify directly to the Round of 16, while places nine through 24 reach the playoff round, where they have another chance to go through.
While the old group structure is a thing of the past, any draw presents slightly lopsided schedules to sift through, with some clubs rueing a gauntlet schedule and others looking forward to softer prospects.
The Sporting News has shuffled through the seemingly complicated draw to give you the toughest and easiest eight-game schedules handed out to the Champions League participants.
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Champions League draw winners and losers: Pot 1
Toughest draw: PSG
Home: Man City, Atletico Madrid, PSV, Girona
Away: Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Salzburg, Stuttgart
Easily the most difficult eight-team slate of the entire draw fell to French giants Paris Saint-Germain, who will again be shaking their heads at their awful Champions League luck. Their schedule is nothing short of a gauntlet from top to bottom.
PSG have the defending Premier League champions and Champions League betting favorites Manchester City, plus German giants Bayern Munich, from Pot 1. They have to visit Pot 2's most difficult opponent in Arsenal, got two "Big Five League" opponents from Pot 4, and a matchup against PSV isn't a gimme, either.
There's also a very difficult run for Liverpool, who were handed the toughest Pot 2 opponents possible in Bayer Leverkusen at home and AC Milan on the road, and have a rough lower-half, too.
Easiest draw: Barcelona
Home: Bayern Munich, Atalanta, BSC Young Boys, Brest
Away: Borussia Dortmund, Benfica, Red Star Belgrade, AS Monaco
Nobody in Pot 1 got a truly easy run through the league phase, but Barcelona can be very happy with their chances of making the knockout phase with this schedule.
Road trips to Dortmund and Belgrade are daunting prospects given the hostile atmospheres, but from a talent perspective, they drew a few of the bottom clubs in each pot. As a German himself, Hansi Flick knows Bundesliga clubs well, and the Blaugrana avoided any of the Pot 2 pitfalls, getting Atalanta at home rather than in Italy.
Another very soft draw fell to Manchester City, who pulled only three top-five European league clubs out of their eight opponents in Inter Milan, PSG, and Juventus. A home match against Club Brugge is maybe the softest Pot 2 pull possible.
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Champions League draw winners and losers: Pot 2
Toughest draw: Atalanta
Home: Real Madrid, Arsenal, Celtic, Sturm Graz
Away: Barcelona, Shakhtar Donetsk, BSC Young Boys, Stuttgart
You'll notice a trend here that a direct pathway to a tough draw is pulling Arsenal from Pot 2, and that's what Atalanta have on their plate. Thankfully, it's at home, but that won't soften the blow of drawing both Spanish giants from Pot 1 as well.
We need an honorable mention for AC Milan, who pulled Liverpool home and Real Madrid away from Pot 1 plus a visit to Bayer Leverkusen, although thankfully for the Italian side it drops off from there.
Easiest draw: Atletico Madrid
Home: RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, Slovan Bratislava
Away: PSG, Benfica, Salzburg, Sparta Prague
While it's never easy to face Bayer Leverkusen, the Pot 1 pull of RB Leipzig home and PSG away is a decently soft slate for Atletico Madrid. Diego Simeone will have to visit Prague, which isn't an easy road trip, but overall this is a relatively simple path to the knockout stage.
Champions League draw winners and losers: Pot 3
Toughest draw: Feyenoord
Home: Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Salzburg, Sparta Prague
Away: Man City, Benfica, Lille, Girona
It was a tough pick here between Feyenoord and Dinamo Zagreb, who also have a brutal challenge in front of them, but getting Bayern Munich and Man City — which PSG also did — takes the cake. That's a rough schedule right off the bat, and with Bayer Leverkusen and Girona also looming, it will be exceedingly difficult for the Dutch side to get through.
A peek at Dinamo's schedule sees them make road trips to Bayern Munich and Arsenal, as well as lower-half draws against Monaco and Salzburg. Yikes.
Easiest draw: Celtic
Home: RB Leipzig, Club Brugge, BSC Young Boys, Slovan Bratislava
Away: Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, Dinamo Zagreb, Aston Villa
Celtic have, quite simply, the easiest slate in the entire draw. If there's ever a time for the Scottish giants to make the knockout stage, it's right now.
That home list is as simple as it could possibly have been, and while a road trip to Signal Iduna Park is daunting, and Aston Vila are a tough Pot 4 team, they avoided every single big-hitter in the top two pots.
Champions League draw winners and losers: Pot 4
Toughest draw: Girona
Home: Liverpool, Arsenal, Feyenoord, Slovan Bratislava
Away: PSG, AC Milan, PSV, Sturm Graz
It was a wonderful sight to see a club like Girona in the top four of the Spanish table last season, but after losing a few of their heroes from that triumphant campaign, their welcome to Europe's top competition is a rude one.
Thankfully, UEFA avoided the awkward prospect of them playing fellow City Football Group side Manchester City (although it's entirely possible that was coded into the computer, as this new draw format leaves open the possibility of such nonsense), but they still have to play two Premier League sides in Liverpool and Arsenal, plus trips to PSG and AC Milan. Add in both Dutch clubs from Pot 3, and it's as tough a schedule as Girona could have feared.
Pour one out for Slovan Bratislava, too, who drew City and AC Milan at home plus road trips to Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid. They're cooked.
Easiest draw: Sturm Graz
Home: RB Leipzig, Club Brugge, Sporting CP, Girona
Away: Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, Lille, Brest
It doesn't quite beat Celtic, but Sturm Graz have one of the simplest draws in the entire league phase.
As we've weirdly said a few times, a trip to Borussia Dortmund is a daunting one from an atmosphere perspective, but they avoided all Premier League clubs and any of the major Champions League contenders, and they have two soft trips to the lesser-heralded French sides in the competition.
Full Champions League league phase draw 2024/25
Below is the full draw for all 36 clubs participating in the 2024/25 Champions League league phase.
| Club | Pot 1 opponents | Pot 2 opponents | Pot 3 opponents | Pot 4 opponents | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | Away | Home | Away | Home | Away | Home | Away | |
| Real Madrid (RMA) | DOR | LFC | MIL | ATA | SAL | LIL | STU | BRE |
| Man City (MCI) | INT | PSG | BRU | JUV | FEY | SPO | SPA | SLB |
| Bayern Munich (BMU) | PSG | BAR | BEN | SHK | DZA | FEY | SLB | AVL |
| Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) | MCI | BMU | ATM | ARS | PSV | SAL | GIR | STU |
| Liverpool (LFC) | RMA | LEI | LEV | MIL | LIL | PSV | BOL | GIR |
| Inter Milan (INT) | LEI | MCI | ARS | LEV | ZVE | YB | MON | SPA |
| Borussia Dortmund (DOR) | BAR | RMA | SHK | BRU | CEL | DZA | SGR | BOL |
| RB Leipzig (LEI) | LFC | INT | JUV | ATM | SPO | CEL | AVL | SGR |
| Barcelona (BAR) | BMU | DOR | ATA | BEN | YB | ZVE | BRE | MON |
| Bayer Leverkusen (LEV) | INT | LFC | MIL | ATM | SAL | FEY | SPA | BRE |
| Atletico Madrid (ATM) | LEI | PSG | LEV | BEN | LIL | SAL | SLB | SPA |
| Atalanta (ATA) | RMA | BAR | ARS | SHK | CEL | YB | SGR | STU |
| Juventus (JUV) | MCI | LEI | BEN | CB | PSV | LIL | STU | AVL |
| Benfica (BEN) | BAR | BAY | ATM | JUV | FEY | ZVE | BOL | MON |
| Arsenal (ARS) | PSG | INT | SHK | ATA | DZA | SPO | MON | GIR |
| Club Brugge (BRU) | DOR | MCI | JUV | MIL | SPO | CEL | AVL | SGR |
| Shakhtar Donetsk (SHK) | BMU | DOR | ATA | ARS | YB | PSV | BRE | BOL |
| AC Milan (MIL) | LFC | RMA | CB | LEV | ZVE | DZA | GIR | SLB |
| Feyenoord (FEY) | BMU | MCI | LEV | BEN | SAL | LIL | SPA | BIR |
| Sporting CP (SPO) | MCI | LEI | ARS | BRU | LIL | PSV | BOL | SGR |
| PSV (PSV) | LFC | PSG | SHK | JUV | SPO | ZVE | GIR | BRE |
| Celtic (CEL) | LEI | DOR | BRU | ATA | YB | DZA | SLB | AVL |
| Young Boys (YB) | INT | BAR | ATA | SHK | ZVE | CEL | SVL | STU |
| Lille (LIL) | RMA | LFC | JUV | ATM | FEY | SPO | SGR | BOL |
| Dinamo Zagreb (DZA) | DOR | BAY | MIL | ARS | CEL | SAL | MON | SLB |
| Red Star (ZVE) | BAR | INT | BEN | MIL | PSV | YB | STU | MON |
| Red Bull Salzburg (SAL) | PSG | RMA | ATM | LEV | DZA | FEY | BRE | SPA |
| Monaco (MON) | BAR | INT | BEN | ARS | ZVE | DZA | AVL | BOL |
| Aston Villa (AVL) | BM | LEI | JUV | CB | CEL | YB | BOL | MON |
| Bologna (BOL) | DOR | LFC | SHK | BEN | LIL | SPO | MON | AVL |
| Girona (GIR) | LFC | PSG | ARS | MIL | FEY | PSV | SLB | SGR |
| Stuttgart (STU) | PSG | RMA | ATA | JUV | YB | ZVE | SPA | SLB |
| Sturm Graz (SGR) | LEI | DOR | CB | ATA | SPO | LIL | GIR | BRE |
| Brest (BRE) | RMA | BAR | LEV | SHK | PSV | SAL | SGR | SPA |
| Slovan Bratislava (SLB) | MCI | BM | MIL | ATM | DZA | CEL | STU | GIR |
| Sparta Prague (SPA) | INT | MCI | ATM | LEV | SPO | FEY | BRE | STU |
How to buy Champions League tickets 2024/25
Once dates and times for Champions League fixtures are confirmed, the ticket process will begin. Other than the final itself, tickets cannot be purchased from UEFA directly for European matches.
Instead, the primary ticket sales are conducted by the participating clubs themselves so that fans can access them seamlessly just as they would other matches.
Once the tickets are distributed, fans can still get tickets on secondary market, with StubHub International as the best place to find tickets to Champions League games.