We will have to wait until August 29 for the draw for the first round of the Champions League, which will no longer be a group stage due to the new format. From now on, the C1 will be played with not 32 but 36 teams divided into 4 hats, or 9 clubs per hat. Each team will play 8 matches during the first phase, called the “League phase”. For example, PSG, which will inherit hat 1, will face two teams from its hat, two others from hat 2, then 3, then 4. Question of fairness.
The teams are distributed into the various hats according to their UEFA coefficient, calculated on the basis of their results in European Cups over the last 5 seasons. For now, we know 26 of the 36 teams qualified for the 2024-25 edition, while waiting for the play-offs (August 20 to 28) which will notably concern Lille, 4th in Ligue 1. But we can already imagine what the hats will look like .
On Thus, AC Milan would narrowly be in pot 2. Lille would be content with pot 3. Monaco would be one of the losers in pot 4, where Brest would bring up the rear behind the Austrian club Sturm Graz.
Manchester CityBayern MunichReal MadridPSGInter MilanBorussia DortmundLeipzigFC Barcelone
Bayer LeverkusenAtlético de MadridJuventusAtalanta BergameBenficaArsenalClub BrugesShakhtar DonetskAC Milan
FeyenoordSporting PortugalPSV EindhovenLillePAOKFenerbahceMaccabi Tel-AvivYoung BoysCeltic
GalatasarayAS MonacoSparta PragueAston VillaBologneGéroneStuttgartSturm GrazStade Brestois