The draw for the 2024-25 edition of the Champions League will take place on Thursday afternoon following the conclusion of the final qualification matches on Wednesday night.
Here’s everything you need to know about the draw, the timings and the teams competing.
Champions League: Draw time and where to watch
The Champions League draw will take place on Thursday 29 August, 2024, beginning at 17.00 BST.
The draw will be streamed live on both the Champions League website and on the UEFA YouTube channel.
Join us on Football Italia for all the latest news and reactions for Italian teams competing in the Champions League.
New Champions League format explained
The newly formatted Champions League will feature 36 teams, who will first compete in a league phase, rather than the previous group stage.
All 36 teams have been divided up into four pots. They will each face eight opponents, and must play against two teams from each pot. No two teams from the same nation can face each other in the league phase, as it was with the previous group stage format.
Teams will still get three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss, but their points tallies will now be measured against every other team in the competition, rather than just the ones in their group.
At the end of the league phase, the top eight teams will automatically qualify for the round of 16. The 16 teams ranked from ninth down to 24th will compete in an additional knock-out and the eight victorious sides will also progress to the knock-out rounds.
From there, the knock-out rounds will be contested as usual.
Which Italian teams are in the Champions League?
This season, there will be five Italian teams involved in the Champions League, thanks to Italy’s UEFA coefficient ranking. They will be Inter, Juventus, Milan, Atalanta and Bologna.
Inter have been drawn into Pot 1. Juventus, Milan and Atalanta will be in Pot 2, and Bologna are the only Italian team in Pot 4.
Pot 1: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona.
Pot 2: Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, Milan.
Pot 3: Feyenoord, Sporting CP, PSV Eindhoven, Dinamo Zagreb, RB Salzburg, Lille, Red Star Belgrade, Young Boys, Celtic.
Pot 4: Slovan Bratislava, AS Monaco, Sparta Prague, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest.
As A Roma fan, I think Arsenal will win it this year and Roma for Europa