How the Champions League works: the 36-team league phase, play-offs and knockouts

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The UEFA Champions League is Europe's top club football competition, and since the 2024/25 season it has used a new format. If you remember the old group stage of eight groups of four, most of what you knew about the early rounds no longer applies. Here is how it works now.

Who qualifies

Clubs qualify through their domestic leagues. The strongest leagues get the most places, decided by UEFA's coefficient rankings (more on those below). Champions of smaller leagues and some other clubs come through qualifying rounds in the summer. In total, 36 clubs reach the main competition.

The league phase

The old group stage has been replaced by a single league phase in which all 36 clubs sit in one table.

The clubs are split into four pots of nine, based on their ranking.
Each club plays eight matches against eight different opponents: two from each pot, one at home and one away.
Nobody plays the same opponent twice in the league phase, and clubs do not meet teams from their own country at this stage.
Opponents are drawn with software rather than balls in bowls, because the constraints are too complicated for a manual draw.

Wins earn three points and draws one, as in a domestic league. Because every club has a different set of opponents, the final table is a little uneven, and goal difference often decides places.

What the final table means

1st to 8th: straight into the round of 16.
9th to 24th: into a two-legged knockout play-off. The clubs that finished 9th to 16th are seeded and play the second leg at home.
25th to 36th: eliminated. Unlike the old format, there is no drop into the Europa League.

The eight play-off winners join the top eight in the round of 16.

The knockout rounds

From the round of 16 the competition returns to the familiar shape:

Round of 16, two legs.
Quarter-finals, two legs.
Semi-finals, two legs.
Final, a single match at a neutral venue chosen years in advance, usually played in late May or early June.

Over two legs the aggregate score decides who goes through. The away-goals rule was abolished in 2021, so a level aggregate goes to extra time and then penalties. The knockout bracket is also seeded partly by league-phase position, so finishing high in the table brings a reward beyond avoiding the play-off.

Coefficients in brief

UEFA keeps two rankings based on results in its competitions over the previous five seasons.

The country coefficient decides how many places each national league gets.
The club coefficient decides which pot a club is drawn from.

The new format also gives extra places to the countries whose clubs performed best in European competition in the previous season, so strong runs by clubs from one league can earn that league an additional Champions League spot the following year.

Tips for following a season

In the league phase, look at the whole table rather than any one match. The race for the top eight and for the top 24 is where the drama is.
The final matchday is played simultaneously, so the table changes by the minute.
The Europa League and the Conference League use the same league-phase idea with their own sizes and schedules.

Formats can be adjusted from cycle to cycle, so UEFA's own site is the place to check the exact regulations for a season. Who are you backing this year, and do you prefer the new format or the old groups? Tell us in the comments.