1 day Ago By Will Murray
The 2024/25 Champions League will feature 36 teams and 189 matches, up from 32 teams & 125 matches last season. 5:45pm (BST) kick-off times allow more TV viewers to watch high-profile matches. The new format features a 'League Phase' consisting of all 36 clubs, with the top eight teams advancing to the Round of 16.
The Champions League has undergone some significant changes in recent years. Most notably, the format for this year's competition will see an increased number of teams and matches. This year will see 36 teams compete instead of 32, and there will be 189 matches overall compared to the 125 games that were played in the 2023/24 edition.
Regardless of the new format, 15-time Champions League winners Real Madrid will be the favourites, especially with the likes of Kylian Mbappe joining their squad over the summer. From the 2018/19 season, games were divided into early and late kick-off time slots, similar to the Europa League TV schedule , which has been in place for a long time now. Here is a closer look at why some matches in the 2024/25 Champions League will kick-off at 5:45pm (BST).
Explaining the 5:45pm (BST) Kick-Off Slot Up until the 2018/19 season, Champions League matches typically kicked off at 7:45pm (BST) on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights. This changed ahead of the 2018/19 campaign, though, with UEFA announcing that kick-off times would be staggered, with early and late slots. Similar to the Europa League , some matches in Europe's premier club competition started at 5:55pm, with the remaining games beginning at 8pm.
In the last couple of years, the early slot has been moved back 10 minutes, with two matches on Tuesday and Wednesday kicking off at 5:45pm. The main reason for this change in scheduling for the Champions League was to allow TV viewers to be able to watch more games. In the previous format that saw every game start at 7:45pm, it was easy to miss out on certain matches, with high-profile clashes overlapping as they started at the same time.
Staggering kick-off times was seen as the perfect way to increase the overall viewership and, in turn, increase revenue for clubs and broadcasters. This was a popular change for Asian audiences, who previously had to wait until the middle of the night to watch the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool in action. 5:45 Kick-Offs (BST) on Champions League Matchday One Match Date Venue Kick-Off (BST) Young Boys vs Aston Villa Tuesday 17th September Stadion Wankdorf 5:45pm (BST) Juventus vs PSV Eindhoven Tuesday 17th September Allianz Stadium 5:45pm (BST) Sparta Prague vs Salzburg Wednesday 18th September epet ARENA 5:45pm (BST) Bologna vs Shakhtar Donetsk Wednesday 18th September Stadio Renato Dall'Ara 5:45pm (BST) Feyenoord vs Bayer Leverkusen Thursday 19th September De Kuip 5:45pm (BST) Crvena Zvezda vs Benfica Thursday 19th September Stadion Rajko Mitic 5:45pm (BST) Four previous finals will take place in the first eight matchdays New Format for 2024/25 Champions League There will be 36 teams in the 2024/25 Champions League, an increase of four from previous seasons.
Last year, the 32 clubs were split into eight groups of four, with the top two in each group qualifying for the Round of 16. This time round, the 36 teams will be placed in one big league table, with each club playing eight games against opponents from four seeded pots. At the end of the 'League Phase', the top eight teams will automatically qualify for the Round of 16, while teams ranked from 9th to 24th will play a two-legged knockout play-off round.
The rest of the teams that finish from 25th to 36th will exit the competition and not be entered into the other two European competitions - the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Europa Conference League . Other changes include matches being played on Thursday, 19th September in the first gameweek. Usually, Thursday is a reserved midweek slot for the other two European competitions, but this season will see all three have their own 'games played on Thursdays , where only matches in their tournament take place.
As well as this, all final 'League Phase' games in this year's Champions League will kick-off at the same time on Wednesday, 29th January 2025. The number of points clubs will likely need to qualify from the group phase of the 2024/25 Champions League has been revealed. Information gathered from Transfermarkt and UEFA - Correct as of 18/09/24.
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