The 2024–25 UEFA Champions League was the 70th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 33rd season since it was rebranded from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. This was the first season under a new format, which had 36 participating teams that played eight games each against different opponents in a league phase, all the teams being ranked in a joint group. This increased the total number of matches played in the competition from 125 to 189 (excluding qualifying rounds).
Luis Enrique's Paris Saint-Germain defeated Simone Inzaghi's Inter Milan 5–0 in the final, which was held at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, to win their first Champions League title in a record margin of victory. As winners of the Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain automatically qualified for the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League league phase, the 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup final, the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup group stage, and earned the right to play against Tottenham Hotspur, the winners of the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League, in the 2025 UEFA Super Cup. Paris Saint-Germain became the second French side to win after Olympique Marseille in the 1992–93 edition and the first team since Porto in the 2003–04 edition that didn't come from England, Germany, Italy or Spain.
Real Madrid were the defending champions, having won a record-extending 15th title in the previous season, but were eliminated by Arsenal in the quarter-finals.
Association team allocation A total of 81 teams from 53 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League (the exceptions being Liechtenstein, which did not organise a domestic league, and Russia, which was suspended). The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association: Associations 1–5 each had four teams. Association 6 had three teams. Associations 7–15 each had two teams. Associations 16–55 (except Liechtenstein and Russia) each had one team. The winners of the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League and 2023–24 UEFA Europa League were each given an additional entry if they did not qualify for the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League through their domestic league. The two associations who obtained the most coefficient points in the 2023–24 season each had one European Performance Spot into the league phase. The winners of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League could not fill the European Performance Spots.
Association ranking For the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2023 UEFA association coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2018–19 to 2022–23. The table reflects Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA.
Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below: – European Performance Spot, the additional berths for associations who finished in the top two of the 2023–24 association coefficients – Additional berth for UEFA Champions League title holders – Additional berth for UEFA Europa League title holders
+Association ranking for 2024–25 UEFA Champions LeagueRankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes1109.5704292.998382.481481.926561.164659.9003756.2162842.200936.4001034.0001132.3751232.1001331.6751429.5001529.0501629.00011727.8251826.21501925.4001RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes2025.22512125.0002224.4752323.7502420.7502520.6252620.5002720.0002819.7502916.6253012.6253112.5003212.2503311.0413411.00003510.62513610.3753710.2003810.000RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes399.8751409.875419.750429.000438.750448.583458.250468.000477.582487.250496.250506.166515.791525.500535.165544.750551.999
Distribution
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from the previous roundFirst qualifying round (28 teams) 28 champions from associations 26–28 and 30–55 (except Liechtenstein)Second qualifying round (28 teams)Champions Path (24 teams) 8 champions from associations 15–18 (except Russia) and 20–24 2 champions from associations 25 and 29 as the teams with highest club coefficients, originally from the first qualifying round 14 winners from the first qualifying roundLeague Path (4 teams) 4 runners-up from associations 11–14Third qualifying round (20 teams)Champions Path (12 teams) 12 winners from the second qualifying round (Champions Path)League Path (8 teams) 2 runners-up from associations 8–9 1 third-placed team from association 6 1 fourth-placed team from association 5 2 runners-up from associations 10 and 15 as the teams with highest club coefficients, originally from the second qualifying round League Path 2 winners from the second qualifying round (League Path)Play-off round (14 teams)Champions Path (10 teams) 3 champions from associations 11–13 1 champion from association 19 as the team with highest club coefficient, originally from the second qualifying round Champions Path 6 winners from the third qualifying round (Champions Path)League Path (4 teams) 4 winners from the third qualifying round (League Path)League phase (36 teams) 10 champions from associations 1–10 6 runners-up from associations 1–6 5 third-placed teams from associations 1–5 4 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–4 1 champion from association 14 as the team with the highest club coefficient, originally from the play-off round of the Champions Path 1 runner-up from association 7 as the team with the highest club coefficient, originally from the third qualifying round of the League Path 2 associations (Italy and Germany) with the highest coefficients from the previous season each received an extra berth 5 winners from the play-off round (Champions Path) 2 winners from the play-off round (League Path)Knockout phase play-offs(16 teams) 16 teams ranked 9–24 from the league phaseRound of 16(16 teams) 8 teams ranked 1–8 from the league phase 8 winners from the knockout phase play-offs
The information here reflects the suspension of Russia in European football, and so the following changes to the default access list were made: The champions of associations 23 (Sweden) and 24 (Poland) will enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round (Champions Path).
As the Champions League title holders (Real Madrid) qualified via their domestic league's standard berth allocation, the following changes to the default access list were made:
Shakhtar Donetsk as the club with the highest club coefficient that would otherwise have entered the Champions Path of the qualifying phase or play-off round, will enter the league phase instead of the Champions Path play-off round. Dinamo Zagreb, as the club with the highest club coefficient that would otherwise have entered the Champions Path second qualifying round, will enter the Champions Path play-off round. Ferencváros and Qarabağ, as the two clubs with the highest club coefficient that would otherwise have entered the Champions Path first qualifying round, will enter the Champions Path second qualifying round.
As the Europa League title holders (Atalanta) qualified via their domestic league's standard berth allocation, the following changes to the default access list were made: Benfica, as the club with the highest club coefficient that would otherwise have entered the League Path third qualifying round, will enter the league phase instead of the League Path third qualifying round. Slavia Prague and Red Bull Salzburg, as the two clubs with the highest club coefficient that would otherwise have entered the League Path second qualifying round, will enter the third qualifying round.
Teams The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: TH: Champions League title holders EL: Europa League title holders 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.: League positions of the previous season EPS: The European Performance Spots given to clubs from the two associations with the highest coefficient points in 2023–24
The second qualifying round, third qualifying round and play-off round were divided into Champions Path (CH) and League Path (LP).
+Qualified teams for 2024–25 UEFA Champions LeagueEntry roundTeamsLeague phase Real Madrid TH Atalanta EL Manchester City Arsenal Liverpool Aston Villa Barcelona Girona Atlético Madrid Bayer Leverkusen VfB Stuttgart Bayern Munich RB Leipzig Borussia Dortmund EPS Inter Milan Milan Juventus Bologna EPS Paris Saint-Germain Monaco Brest PSV Eindhoven Feyenoord Sporting CP Benfica Club Brugge Celtic Sturm Graz Shakhtar Donetsk Play-off round Red Star Belgrade Galatasaray Young Boys Dinamo Zagreb Third qualifying round Lille Twente Union Saint-Gilloise Rangers Red Bull Salzburg Slavia Prague Second qualifying round Sparta Prague Bodø/Glimt Midtjylland PAOK Maccabi Tel Aviv APOEL Malmö FF Jagiellonia Białystok Ferencváros Qarabağ Partizan Fenerbahçe Lugano Dynamo Kyiv First qualifying round FCSB Ludogorets Razgrad Slovan Bratislava Ordabasy Celje Petrocub Hîncești Ballkani RFS Shamrock Rovers HJK Panevėžys Pyunik Dinamo Minsk Borac Banja Luka Differdange 03 KÍ Larne Hamrun Spartans Dinamo Batumi Flora Víkingur Reykjavík Egnatia The New Saints Lincoln Red Imps Struga UE Santa Coloma Dečić Virtus
Schedule The schedule of the competition was as follows. Compared to past seasons, one "exclusive week" was introduced in which Thursday was also a matchday. All matches in other weeks were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays apart from the final.
+Schedule for 2024–25 UEFA Champions LeaguePhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifyingFirst qualifying round18 June 20249–10 July 202416–17 July 2024Second qualifying round19 June 202423–24 July 202430–31 July 2024Third qualifying round22 July 20246–7 August 202413 August 2024Play-offsPlay-off round5 August 202420–21 August 202427–28 August 2024League phaseMatchday 129 August 202417–19 September 2024Matchday 21–2 October 2024Matchday 322–23 October 2024Matchday 45–6 November 2024Matchday 526–27 November 2024Matchday 610–11 December 2024Matchday 721–22 January 2025Matchday 829 January 2025Knockout phaseKnockout phase play-offs31 January 202511–12 February 202518–19 February 2025Round of 1621 February 20254–5 March 202511–12 March 2025Quarter-finals8–9 April 202515–16 April 2025Semi-finals29–30 April 20256–7 May 2025Final31 May 2025 at Allianz Arena, Munich
Qualifying rounds
First qualifying round
Second qualifying round
Third qualifying round
Play-off round
League phase
The league phase draw for the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League took place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on 29 August 2024, 18:00 CEST. The 36 teams were divided into four pots of nine teams each based on their UEFA club coefficient, except for the Champions League title holders, who were automatically placed as the top seed in pot 1.
The 36 teams were manually drawn and then, the automated software digitally drew their eight different opponents at random, determining which of their matches were at home and which ones away. Each team faced two opponents from each of the four pots, one at home and one away. Teams could not face opponents from their own association, and could only be drawn against a maximum of two sides from the same association.
Aston Villa, Bologna, Brest, Girona and Slovan Bratislava made their debut appearances since the introduction of the group stage, with Brest and Girona both qualifying for European football for the first time in their history. For the first time in their history, France had four clubs in the Champions League main stage.
A total of 16 national associations were represented in the league phase.
Table