As Kaka smashed that big Champions League logo button and the fixtures popped up, there was a sense of, “Yikes, these look nasty.” The top four clubs have some of the toughest away matches with trips to Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Leverkusen. And even Liverpool have games that you’d rather your team wasn’t playing in.
The big change to the 2024-25 season is that teams will play eight games in a new league phase, up from the six of the old group stage. They’ll be ranked in seeding pots and then drawn against each other to face one opponent at home and one away. The winners of the groups, plus the runners-up, advance to the knockout stage.
UEFA has also changed the way home advantage is awarded in the knockout phase. It’s now based on the league phase rankings, with teams ranked 1-4 guaranteed to play the second leg at home if they make it to the quarterfinals or semifinals.
This should create more of a sporting incentive for clubs to finish higher in the league, especially since it’s more likely that the top two will meet in the final. It also means more teams have a chance to make the semi-finals, which has been a rarity for the past decade.