The Champions League is Europe’s premier club association football tournament. The competition features top-division European teams competing in a double round-robin league phase, followed by a two-legged knockout stage. The competition is organized by UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), and it’s the most-watched club competition in the world, with more viewership than the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics combined.
In 2024-25, the Champions League format was revamped to eliminate the group stage and introduce a 36-team league phase. In the new format, each team plays eight other teams — four at home and four away. The top eight teams automatically qualify for the last 16, and sides finishing ninth through 24th compete in a two-legged play-off to join them.
This season’s draw was different, too: rather than creating groups of four teams, each side is placed in one of four pots based on UEFA’s club coefficient ranking. Pot 1 houses the champions of the top six domestic leagues, while the remaining pots are arranged based on performance in previous Champions League seasons.
This system is designed to create more competitive matches, and it works well on paper. However, there are a few caveats that should be noted. For instance, Arsenal were upset last season when they were forced to travel for the second leg of their quarterfinal against Paris Saint-Germain even though they finished higher in the League Phase than the French side. This system could create similar scenarios where the defending champion is awarded home priority.