Format, teams, dates: The UEFA Champions League 2024-25 season explained

Which teams are playing and what’s the league’s format? What are the new rules? Al Jazeera breaks it down.

The main round of the all-new UEFA Champions League season is to get under way in September.

The draw for the bigger and changed-up tournament takes place in Monaco on Thursday, but it won’t be the same as previous years – not entirely anyway.

Here’s how the upcoming season will play out:

The updated version of the Champions League will see 36 clubs feature in the main round of the competition, an increase from 32 under the old format.

There is an extra place for the fifth-best European league according to UEFA’s ranking, which means France’s Ligue 1 now has three automatic qualifiers.