The UEFA Champions League has entered a new era of the world-renowned football competition, with the European championship undergoing a makeover for the 2024/25 season.
With the expansion and restructuring of the competition, UEFA has abandoned the old “group stage” model, which has led to some cautious optimism from fans and the media. The next stage has now been dubbed the “League Phase”, with UEFA moving away from the Swiss model in determining the match-ups and participants in the knockout stages.
A new draw setup is now required, with the competition format having been reworked. Teams will no longer be split into groups of four clubs, but will instead benefit from an AI-drafted league stage bracket. Some initial balls will still be drawn into pots as a formality, with a computer defining the matchups.
THE Jugo Mobile brings you everything you need to know about when the draw will take place, where you can follow the proceedings and how it will unfold.
Free Live Stream 2024 Champions League Draw in USA
You can watch the first draw of the new era exclusively on Paramount+ from CBS Sports. Paramount+ offers a one week free trial for new users.
The UEFA Champions League draw will not be televised in the US, meaning Paramount+ is the exclusive broadcaster of Thursday’s showpiece event.
Plus, now for a limited time, new subscribers can enjoy Paramount+ from $2.50 per month for 12 months! Billed annually. Stream NFL on CBS, Champions League football and more. Trade nowto watch all the matches of the Champions League 2024/25 at a low price!
For those in territories where no broadcast partner is appointed, the draw can be streamed on UEFA.tv.
What day is the 2024 Champions League draw?
The draw for the new UEFA Champions League “league phase” will take place on Thursday August 29 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The draw for the Europa League and the Europa Conference League will take place the following day, on Friday 30 August.
Further draws for the Champions League round of 16 will take place in early 2025, as detailed below, when the participants will be determined.
Single-elimination play-offs: January 21, 2025
Round of 16, quarter-final, semi-final: February 21, 2025
What time is the 2024 Champions League draw?
The 2024/25 Champions League draw will take place in Monaco on Thursday 29 August at 6 p.m. local time in the principality.
Here’s how that time translates to some of the major U.S. time zones:
| Date | Drawing time | |
| Eastern Time | Thursday August 29 | 12:00 p.m. |
| Central Time | Thursday August 29 | 11am |
| Mountain Time | Thursday August 29 | 10am |
| Pacific Time | Thursday August 29 | 9am |
How the draw for the 2024 Champions League stages will take place
The old group stage has been scrapped and now a “league stage” will be held to determine the eight-match schedule for each of the 36 participants.
As before, all teams will be placed in four pots, determined by the clubs’ UEFA coefficient at the start of the season. The only exception is the reigning Champions League winner, who will be placed in Pot 1 regardless of their ranking. This season, with Real Madrid being the reigning champions, they would have been placed in Pot 1 anyway as one of the most successful and powerful clubs in the world, so this exception is questionable.
Each team will then be drawn against two clubs from each pot, including their own pot, one playing at home and one away. Teams cannot be drawn against other clubs from the same country.
To create the matchups, manually drawing balls into the pots will no longer be a major part of the process. In the new format, it would take a long time to draw all the required factors into the pots.
Instead, the initial team will be drawn randomly, after which AI software will be used to create the matchups and determine the home and away designations. While this will reduce the time it takes to draw, it will likely destroy the aura of impartiality created by a manual draw.
