We explain how the draw for the new 36-team formula works

Paris, Monaco, Brest and Lille will find out their eight European opponents following the C1 draw, which will take place on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Real Madrid is putting its title back on the line. The draw for the 2024-2025 Champions League will take place on Thursday, August 29, starting at 6 p.m., at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. Gone are the eight groups of four teams; 36 clubs will now compete in this new format of the C1. From September to January, these teams will be pitted against each other in a single group in the form of a mini-championship.

Each of them will face eight different opponents (four at home, four away). To directly access the round of 16, it will be necessary to finish in the top 8, while the teams ranked from 9th to 24th place will be decided during play-offs in February. The other teams will be eliminated from all European competitions since no one will be transferred to the Europa League, as was the case in recent seasons. Note that the Europa League and the Conference League, whose draw will take place on Friday, will also follow this system (with only six matches per club in C4).

While PSG, Monaco, Brest and Lille are involved, franceinfo: sport explains how the draw for this new version of the Champions League will work.

Hat 1 teams no longer protected as much

The clubs were sorted into four pots of nine before this draw, according to their UEFA coefficients (except for the title holder). The national champions of the best leagues are therefore no longer protected in pot 1, as was the case in the previous formula. Another change: each team will meet two opponents from each pot, including their own.

Placed in pot 1, PSG will thus inherit two opponents among the big names that are Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Barcelona, ​​the other teams present in this pot. The same with the teams in pots 2, 3 and 4.

A computer-generated draw

With so many possible combinations, a completely manual draw would have been particularly time-consuming. So UEFA decided to operate with the help of a computer. The balls of the teams in the first pot will be drawn manually before the computer software – created by the company AE Live – randomly assigns them eight opponents.

It is also based on chance that the distribution of home or away matches will be done (one home and one away per hat). If the computer opposes PSG to Manchester City and Bayern Munich, for example, the capital club will only challenge one of these two favorites at the Parc des Princes.

Two principles to follow to have original posters

To guarantee original posters, the technology will have to respect two principles. It will not be able to put two teams playing in the same national championship face to face. In addition, the same club will not be able to face more than two teams from the same country. In other words, Brest will not be able to face an English trio with Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal for its first in C1.

Faced with this logistical headache, UEFA has indicated that the equipment carried out by the computer will be immediately controlled by two other independent systems.