Ultimate Guide to the Champions League 2024/25: New format explained plus dates, odds & more

• Manchester City the 5/23.50 favourites to win the Champions League

• Holders Real Madrid are second in the betting at 3/14.00

• New Champions League format explained

• Champions League draw details and fixture dates

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How does the new Champions League format work?

The Champions League group stage is officially dead. Long live the Champions League league phase.

Where once there were eight groups of four teams, there is now a single league that features all 36 teams that have made it through to that stage.

Each team plays eight matches, with four being at home and four away, against eight different opponents.

The 36 clubs are divided into four pots based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients. Teams will play two sides from each pot, with one home match and one away game from each pot.

No team can play another side from their own country during the league phase, nor can they play more than two sides from the same country.

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Is the Champions League knockout stage the same?

There have also been big changes made to the Champions League knockout stage. This season will see the introduction of play-offs in the knockout phase, before the Round of 16.

The top eight teams in the league stage go straight through to the Round of 16. Clubs ranked 9th to 24th in the league, will compete in two-legged knockout phase play-off matches, with the winners going through to the Round of 16.

Teams finishing 25th to 36th will be eliminated from the Champions League. A major change is that there will no longer be any clubs dropping down into the Europa League.

This will be a boost for anyone that is interested in the outright Europa League betting odds, as you no longer have to factor in which clubs might drop down from the Champions League.

From the Round of 16 onwards, the Champions League knockout stage will be back in a format that has been familiar to football fans over recent years.

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Will there be any other Champions League changes?

There will be even more fixtures this season, increasing the number of Champions League betting opportunities.

The total of games will rise from the previous amount of 125 to 189. While the group stage saw teams playing six games, they now have eight, while there has also been the extra play-off round inserted.

Finalists will have played at least 15 times and possibly 17 if they were involved in the play-offs. Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund played 13 times last season.

There is also a change to the scheduling. In the first round of league fixtures, the games will be spread over the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with no Europa League or Europa Conference League games taking place that week.

The eighth round of fixtures will see all 18 games between the 36 teams, kick off simultaneously.

While the group stage used to be concluded in December, it will now stretch through into late-January.

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What is the new Champions League schedule?

The 2024-25 Champions League schedule is as follows, starting with the league phase.

• Matchday 1: September 17-19, 2024

• Matchday 2: October 1-2, 2024

• Matchday 3: October 22-23, 2024

• Matchday 4: November 5-6, 2024

• Matchday 5: November 26-27, 2024

• Matchday 6: December 10-11, 2024

• Matchday 7: January 21-22, 2025

• Matchday 8: January 29, 2025

• Knockout phase play-offs: February 11-12 and 18-19, 2025

• Round of 16: March 4-5 and 11-12, 2025

• Quarter-finals: April 8-9 and 15-16, 2025

• Semi-finals: April 29-30 and May 6-7, 2025

• Final: May 31, 2025

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When is the Champions League draw?

The Champions League draw takes place on Thursday, August 29 at 5pm. It will be held in Monaco.

Aston Villa, Bologna, Brest and Girona will be making their first appearances in the Champions League draw, since the introduction of the group stage. In the case of Brest and Girona, this will also be their debut season in European competition.

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How will the 2024-25 Champions League draw work?

We are used to seeing retired footballing legends drawing out all of the balls by hand during the Champions League draw.

This would be a painstakingly long process with the new format. Instead, only the first part of the draw will see balls pulled out manually.

A ball will be drawn for each of the 36 teams. For every club that is drawn out, automated software will then randomly draw eight opponents, from across the various pots. The software will also decide which games will be played at home and which ones will be away.

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When will the Champions League fixtures be released?

The fixture list for the 2024-25 Champions League league stage will be released on Saturday August 31.

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Which teams will be in the Champions League 2024-25?

Here are the teams that have qualified for the league stage so far, with play-offs still taking place.

Champions League Pot 1

Team	Nation	Coefficient
Real Madrid (holders)	Spain	136.000
Manchester City	England	148.000
Bayern Munich	Germany	144.000
Paris Saint-Germain	France	116.000
Liverpool	England	114.000
Inter Milan	Italy	101.000
Borussia Dortmund	Germany	97.000
RB Leipzig	Germany	97.000
Barcelona	Spain	91.000

Champions League Pot 2

Team	Nation	Coefficient
Bayer Leverkusen	Germany	90.000
Atletico Madrid	Spain	89.000
Atalanta	Italy	81.000
Juventus	Italy	80.000
Benfica	Portugal	79.000
Arsenal	England	72.000
Club Brugge	Belgium	64.000
Shakhtar Donetsk	Ukraine	63.000
Milan	Italy	59.000

Champions League Pot 3

Team	Nation	Coefficient
Feyenoord	Netherlands	57.000
Sporting Lisbon	Portugal	54.500
PSV Eindhoven	Netherlands	54.000
Dinamo Zagreb	Croatia	50.000
Red Bull Salzburg	Austria	50.000
Lille	France	47.000
Red Star Belgrade	Serbia	40.000
Young Boys	Switzerland	34.500
Celtic	Scotland	32.000

Champions League Pot 4

Team	Nation	Coefficient
Slovan Bratislava	Slovakia	30.500
Monaco	France	24.000
Sparta Prague	Czech Republic	22.500
Aston Villa	England	20.860
Bologna	Italy	18.056
Girona	Spain	17.897
Stuttgart	Germany	17.324
Sturm Graz	Austria	14.500
Brest	France	13.366

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Where will the Champions League final be held?

The Champions League final will be held at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany on 31 May 2025.

It will be the first time that this stadium has hosted the Champions League final since Bayern Munich lost at their home ground to Chelsea in 2011-12.

The Allianz Arena has a capacity of 70,000 for European matches, which is stretched to 75,024 for domestic games.

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What are the Champions League odds?

Manchester City are the favourites to win the Champions League at 5/23.50. Pep Guardiola's team won the competition in the 2022-23 season to complete the treble.

The holders Real Madrid are the second favourites at 3/14.00. They are the most successful team in the history of the European Cup and Champions League, having been crowned as the footballing kings of Europe on 15 occasions, with five of those wins coming in the last ten seasons.

Arsenal are the third favourites at 10/111.00, with Bayern Munich at 12/113.00, Liverpool and Barcelona both priced at 14/115.00, Paris St-Germain at 18/119.00 and Inter Milan at 25/126.00.

Here is a rundown of the main contenders in the 2024-25 Champions League betting.

Club	Odds
Manchester City	5/23.50
Real Madrid	3/14.00
Arsenal	10/111.00
Bayern Munich	12/113.00
Liverpool	14/115.00
Barcelona	14/115.00
Paris St-Germain	18/119.00
Inter Milan	25/126.00
Bayer Leverkusen	28/129.00
Atalanta	33/134.00
Atletico Madrid	33/134.00
Borussia Dortmund	33/134.00
Juventus	33/134.00
AC Milan	33/134.00
RB Leipzig	50/151.00
Aston Villa	50/151.00

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Analysing the Champions League winner odds

The first thing that is noticeable when you look at the odds to win the 2024-25 Champions League is that there are two clear favourites.

While it seems fair that Manchester City at 5/23.50 and Real Madrid at 3/14.00 are the two frontrunners, the order is debatable. With Madrid having won this trophy with such regularity, it is hard to see why they wouldn't be favoured, particularly as they have added Kylian Mbappe and Endrick to their attacking options.

Having two hot favourites, does mean that there are other major contenders available at big prices, with 1/2 odds available for a team to be beaten finalists on E/W bets.

Arsenal at 10/111.00 are improving with each season under Mikel Arteta, though their attention could be more focused on securing a Premier League title. Liverpool at 14/115.00 have had a lot of success in the competition in recent seasons, but that was under the leadership of the now departed Jurgen Klopp.

Bayern Munich reached the semi-finals last season and are available at 12/113.00. Another value bet from Germany could be the Bundesliga title holders Bayer Leverkusen at 28/129.00, who reached the final of last season's Europa League.

Atalanta won that final and are priced at 33/134.00, but there could be better options from Italy. Inter were finalists in 2023 and are available at 25/126.00, while Juventus have made a strong start in Serie A under their new manager Thiago Motta and are 33/134.00.

An element that could be useful to punters looking to bet on the Champions League winner, is that we will now see more games between the main contenders, at an earlier stage of the competition.

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What other Champions League betting markets are there?

As we get nearer to the league stage starting, there will be a huge amount of Champions League betting markets available on the sportsbook and exchange.

You will be able to bet on which team will win the league phase, while there will also be markets for the various finishing positions and qualification places.

Looking further forward, you will be able to bet on the finalists, which country will provide the winner and which team will be the most successful from major nations.

There will also be markets based around individual players. Champions League top goalscorer betting is always popular, with Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane likely to be among the main contenders.

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Stats which could influence your Champions League betting picks

Here are some Champions League statistics to help you to decide on your bets for the 2024-25 season.

• There have been six winners of the Champions League over the last ten years. Real Madrid have won five times during that period, with Barcelona, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Manchester City being the other winners, with a single victory apiece.
• When it comes to finalists over the last ten years, there have been twelve. Real Madrid have played in five and won them all. Liverpool are the next most frequent finalist, having made it on three occasions.
• England and Spain have both provided seven of the 20 finalists over the last ten years. That means that there were only six finalists from outside of the Premier League and LaLiga. Three came from Italy, two came from Germany and one from France.
• Of their 13 matches en-route to winning the 2023-24 Champions League, Real Madrid won nine and drew four.
• This compares to Manchester City winning nine and drawing five times when they won the Champions League in 2022-23.

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Where can I watch the Champions League on TV?

TNT Sports will continue to be the main broadcaster for the Champions League in the UK, but there will also be additional ways to watch the action.

Amazon Prime Video will show a total of 17 matches, getting the first pick for games played on a Tuesday night, right through to the semi-finals.

The BBC will also broadcast highlights of the Champions League on a Wednesday night. As well as a BBC TV show, fans will be able to access highlights on iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.

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