Since the 2024/25 season, the UEFA Champions League no longer starts with eight groups of four. Instead, all 36 clubs play in one big league table, called the league phase. The new format confuses a lot of fans, so here is a simple guide to how it works, from the draw in August to the final in May or June.
The old group stage had 32 teams. The new league phase has 36. Every club appears in a single table, ranked by points, exactly like a domestic league. A win is worth three points, a draw one point and a defeat nothing.
The big difference from a domestic league is that teams do not all play each other. With 36 clubs that would mean 35 matches each, which is far too many. Instead, each club plays eight matches against eight different opponents.
Before the draw, the 36 clubs are split into four pots of nine, based on UEFA club coefficients, with the holders placed in Pot 1. Each club is then drawn against two opponents from every pot: one at home and one away. That gives eight matches in total, four at home and four away.
Some rules shape the draw. A club cannot face a team from its own country in the league phase, and it can play a maximum of two clubs from any other single country. UEFA uses software to make sure every possible combination respects these rules.
When all eight matchdays are finished, the final position in the table decides what happens next:
This makes every position matter. Finishing in the top eight saves a club two extra matches in February and gives it a seeded place in the knockout bracket. Finishing 24th rather than 25th is the difference between staying in the competition and going out.
If two or more clubs finish on the same number of points, UEFA first looks at goal difference across all league phase matches, then at goals scored. Further criteria follow if teams are still level, but in practice goal difference settles most ties. Because there is no head-to-head comparison when teams have not played each other, every goal in every match counts.
From the round of 16 onwards, the competition works the way fans know it. Ties are played over two legs, home and away, except the final, which is a single match at a neutral venue chosen in advance. The away goals rule no longer exists: if the aggregate score is level after two legs, the tie goes to extra time and then penalties.
The knockout bracket is partly fixed by league positions. Clubs that finished higher in the league phase are kept apart in the early rounds, so a strong league phase is rewarded with an easier path on paper.
The Champions League page shows the full league phase table with every club’s points and goal difference, plus today’s fixtures and live scores. Arabic readers can use the Arabic Champions League page. The table updates as matches finish, so you can see qualification places change in real time on a busy Tuesday or Wednesday night.