UEFA Champions League playoffs: All you need to know about UCL 2024-25 draw, format, list of teams, live streaming info
UEFA Champions League playoffs: All you need to know about UCL 2024-25 draw, format, list of teams, live streaming info
On Wednesday, the final matchday of the league phase of the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League took place, after which the top 24 teams were decided.
As per the new format, the top eight teams qualified for the Round of 16 directly, while sides placed ninth to 24th will have to play two-legged playoffs to advance to the knockouts.
Here’s everything you need to know about teams involved and how the draw for the UEFA Champions League 2024-25 playoffs actually works:
As mentioned earlier, the top eight teams – namely Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, and Aston Villa – have earned a direct spot into the Round of 16.
The teams below them, namely those between ninth and 24th, have been divided into seeded and unseeded teams.
Atalanta (9th)
Borussia Dortmund (10th)
Real Madrid (11th)
Bayern Munich (12th)
AC Milan (13th)
PSV Eindhoven (14th)
Paris Saint-Germain (15th)
Benfica (16th)
Monaco (17th)
Brest (18th)
Feyenoord (19th)
Juventus (20th)
Celtic (21st)
Manchester City (22nd)
Sporting Lisbon (23rd)
Club Brugge (24th)
The seeded teams will play the second leg at home, according to the draw rules.
Atalanta/Borussia Dortmund vs Sporting/Club Brugge
Real Madrid/Bayern Munich vs Celtic/Manchester City
AC Milan/PSV Eindhoven vs Feyenoord/Juventus
Paris Saint-Germain/Benfica vs Monaco/Brest
There are eight bowls for the draw which have balls containing the names of the seeded and unseeded teams placed in pairs in the corresponding marked bowls according to the league phase rankings.
The draw begins with the unseeded teams. One unseeded team from a pair will be allocated to a relevant pre-determined positions in the bracket, starting with the sides ranked 23/24 and finishing with those in 17/18.
The first team drawn from this bowl is placed in its reserved spot on the silver side of the bracket. The other unseeded team of the pairing will be placed on the blue side of the bracket.
Once all the pairings of unseeded teams have been drawn and assigned to an appropriate position on the bracket, the draw continues with the seeded sides, starting with the pairing ranked 15/16. The same process is followed.
The procedure is repeated for the remaining pairings, finishing with the teams ranked 9/10 to complete the pairings for the knockout round play-offs.
The draw will be streamed LIVE on UEFA.com. It will take place on January 31 from 4:30 pm IST onwards at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland.
Moreover, you can stay tuned to Sportstar’s website and app for all the updates from the draw.
