How do the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League draws operate?

The upcoming final qualifying rounds for the three UEFA club competitions are set to take place over the next week, with teams from all over Europe vying for a chance to secure their spots in the uniquely challenging tournaments this season.

The Champions League, Europa League and Conference League will all switch to the new ‘Swiss model’ this season, doing away with the traditional group stage. 

With the draws for all three competitions coming up following the conclusion of the final qualifiers, FourFourTwo takes a look at what is changed and how the new draws will work. 

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How are the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League changing in 2024/25?

The move from the traditional group stage that pits four teams together for the traditional home-and-away fixtures has been scrapped in favour of a ‘league phase’. In its place in each tournament will be a single league containing all 36 teams that have qualified for each individual competition.

In the Champions League and Europa League, each side will play eight matches in this league phase against eight different opponents (four at home, four away). The top eight teams from the league phase will qualify automatically for the last-16, with those finishing between ninth and 24th playing in two-legged knock-out play-offs to determine the other eight teams to qualify for the last-16.

The Conference League will have just six rounds of fixtures.

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Each competition will then revert to the pre-existing knock-out tournament until the final which will be played at neutral venues.

How will the draws work?

In the Champions League and Europa League, all 36 clubs will be divided into four seeded pots, which are determined by their coefficient at the start of the season and each side will play two teams from each of these pots, once at home and once away from home.

The Conference League sees teams put into six pots, meaning teams will be drawn against one team from each pot and then play three games at home and three away.

There will be another big change though, as computer software will be used once each of the 36 teams are physically drawn to select their opponents from the various pots and whether they will play home or away. The results are then revealed on a screen both in the draw hall and on television coverage. This is because drawing the balls using the method we are used to would require almost 1,000 balls and 36 bowls on stage.

ℹ️ New format. New draw.#UCLdraw | #UELdraw | #UECLdraw pic.twitter.com/QKTwVPMhQUAugust 20, 2024

When do the draws take place?

The Champions League draw takes place at 11am on Thursday, August 29 in Monaco, with the Europa League and Conference League draws taking place a day later on Friday, August 30.

Each team will know their opponents by the end of the draw, with the full fixture list including dates and times, announced on Saturday, August 31.

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