When is the Champions League format changing? Changes to group stage, coefficient formula and teams involved

For the upcoming 2024/25 season, the UEFA Champions League will have a new look. Who knows, it might even stop Real Madrid from winning it all the time...

As well as making changes to the coefficient formula, there'll also be a new look group stage whilst the number of teams who qualify for the competition will also increase. 

Alongside the restructuring of the main event itself, the changes will additionally open up new avenues for teams to enter the tournament according to organisers. 

In the wake of the failed European Super League breakaway competition several years ago, the re-jigging of Europe's elite tournament is likely to ensure that the biggest teams on the continent will continue to qualify for the competition each season, even despite their own domestic performance. 

MORE: Is the Europa League also changing its format?

When will the Champions League format change? 

With the format changing in August 2024, the 2023/24 campaign will be the last to see the Champions League in its current format which consists of 32 teams in the group phase, split up into eight groups of four, with the top two in each advancing to the knockout rounds. 

What are the changes to the Champions League format?

There are a number of changes coming to the Champions League format for the 2024/25 season. Here's all of the main ones:

• In terms of the size of the tournament, the number of teams to qualify for the group stage will expand from 32 to 36 clubs.
   
• Those 36 teams will compete in a new-look 'league phase' with the old groups effectively being pushed together into one entire league.
   
• Each team will be allocated four home games and four away games against other teams across the league phase for a total of eight matches. The top eight teams in the table would qualify for the knockout round, whilst teams finishing between 9 and 24 would enter a playoff round. 
   
• Each season, four additional spots will be handed out as the competition grows from 32 to 36 teams in the group stage equivalent. 
   
• The first additonal slot — as was announced in last year's release — will be granted to the club finishing third in the fifth-ranked league by UEFA coefficient.

• The second slot will be awarded to an additional club from the "Champions Path". The Champions Path is one of two routes clubs can take through the playoff rounds. Currently, the Champions Path results in four teams advancing from the playoff stage to the group stage. In the 2024-25 competition, the Champions Path will be reconfigured to produce five winners.

• The third and fourth slots will be allocated to leagues that boast the best overall performances by its clubs in all European competitions — ranked by total coefficient points divided by the number of participating clubs. Germany and Italy secured those spots.

• From a financial standpoint, UEFA has stated that it will increase revenue-sharing payments to €935 million ($983 million), an increase of 21 percent from the previous four-year cycle.

Who has qualified for UEFA Champions League 2024/2025?

Below is an updated list of all the teams to have qualified for the UEFA Champions League proper in 2024/25.

In total, 36 teams will qualify for the newly expanded tournament. The winners of this season's Champions League and Europa League are guaranteed a place, along with 25 sides who qualify automatically through their domestic league position.

Two extra spots go to those leagues with the best coefficient rating — Italy and Germany for next season — and the final seven places are determined through a qualifying phase.

Teams qualified for 2024/25 UEFA Champions League