From the 2024/25 season, 36 clubs will participate in the Champions League league phase (former group stage), giving four more sides the opportunity to compete against the best clubs in Europe. Those 36 clubs will participate in a single league competition in which all 36 competing clubs are ranked together.

According to the Champions League 2024-25 new format, every team will play eight matches each in the new league phase, four at home and four away. Under the former group stage system, each club used to face the other three opponents in their group twice in a home-and-away format.

What is the new Champions League format? The new format will no longer put 32 teams in groups of four, where each team plays six games -- once at home against an opponent and once away -- where the top-two finishers advance to the knockout rounds. Instead, there will be 36 teams playing eight matches each, league style.