The excitement of the Champions League, which will be played in a new format starting this season, kicks off today with 6 matches.
The 2024-25 edition of Europe’s biggest club competition, which began in 1955 as the European Champion Clubs’ Cup and has been played as the Champions League since the 1992-93 season, starts today. With the new format, the number of teams has increased from 32 to 36 this season. In the previous format, 32 teams competed in 8 groups of 4. According to the new format, teams will play a total of eight matches in the new league phase of both the Champions League and UEFA Europa League, with 4 at home and 4 away.
BACK TO THE OLD SYSTEM AFTER THE ROUND OF 16
The top 8 teams will secure a place in the round of 16. Teams ranked 9th to 24th will play a two-legged playoff to qualify for the round of 16. Teams finishing 25th or lower will be eliminated without qualifying for the Europa League. Teams finishing 9th to 16th will be seeded in the knockout stage playoff draw and will face a team ranked between 17th and 24th. From the round of 16 onwards, matches will be played under the current system. The final will be played at a neutral venue chosen by UEFA.
MORE MATCHES, MORE PRIZE MONEY
In the new format of the UEFA league stage, 2.467 billion euros will be distributed among the 36 teams. The participation share has been increased to 670 million euros, with each team receiving approximately 18.62 million euros. The performance share has been increased to 914 million euros, with 2.1 million euros awarded for each win and 700,000 euros for each draw in the league stage. Thanks to the increase in performance shares, ranking bonuses will also be paid. The base ranking prize pool will start at 183.15 million euros… Every draw will add 700,000 euros to the ranking prize pool.
BONUSES WILL BOOST EARNINGS
At the end of the 8 matches in the league stage, each rank will initially be worth 275,000 euros. The team finishing 1st will receive a 9.9 million euro ranking bonus. The top 8 will each earn 2 million euros, while teams ranked 9-16 will earn 1 million euros each. The round of 16 will award 11.5 million euros, the quarter-finals 12.5 million, the semi-finals 15 million, the final 18.5 million, and the winner will receive the final prize + 6.5 million euros. The coefficient and market pool of 900.9 million euros has been replaced by a “Value Pillar” worth 853 million euros, with 75% paid to clubs under the “European share.”
TODAY’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PROGRAM
- 19:45 Juventus-PSV Eindhoven
- 19:45 Young Boys-Aston Villa
- 22:00 Bayern Munich-Dinamo Zagreb
- 22:00 AC Milan-Liverpool
- 22:00 Real Madrid-Stuttgart
- 22:00 Sporting Lisbon-Lille
