What is the Champions League Knockout Phase Play-Off Round (Explained)

The 2024/25 Champions League gets underway on Tuesday, 17th September, with Real Madrid looking to win a record-extending 16th title. For this year’s competition, there have been major changes to the format for the first time in two decades. This includes the replacing of the group stage with a ‘League Phase’ and an increase in games from 125 to 189.

One of the most notable changes is that there will be an extra knockout round after the original ‘League Phase’. Instead of teams going straight to the Round of 16 after qualifying in the top two of their group stage like previous seasons, this season will see some teams participate in knockout play-offs. Here is a detailed look at the new format, with the beginning of the competition edging ever closer.

What is the Knockout Phase Play-Off Round

One of the most significant changes included in this year’s new Champions League format is the introduction of the knockout phase play-offs. The top eight teams out of the 36 in the original ‘League Phase’ will qualify automatically for the Round of 16. Clubs who are ranked ninth to 24th after eight matches, though, will play a two-legged tie in mid-February to join the already-qualified sides.

The play-off round will be seeded with clubs ranked 9-16 at home in the second leg. As well as this, teams will be put in seeded and unseeded pairs, meaning that they will only be able to play two possible opponents based on their ‘League Phase’ ranking. The seeding pairs are as follows: 9 and 10, 11 and 12, 13 and 14, 15 and 16. Meanwhile, the unseeded pairs are positions 17 and 18, 19 and 20, 21 and 22, and 23 and 24. As per article 19.02b on the regulations of the UEFA Champions League,

Of course, this all seems very complicated at this stage of the competition, but it will be much easier to unpick once the table of 36 is finalised at the end of January 2025. Given the depth of the Champions League and the fact that only eight teams qualify for the Round of 16, you can expect to see some heavyweight clashes in the new knockout phase play-offs.

Other Format Changes

In the first week of the 2024/25 Champions League, some matches will take place on Thursday. The UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League are typically played on this day of the week, but this year will see all three UEFA competitions have an ‘exclusive’ gameweek. For the week commencing 16th September, only Champions League matches will be played, including six games on Thursday, with Arsenal’s trip to Atalanta the standout tie. Meanwhile, only Europa League matches will take place in the following week in September, while teams in the Conference League will have to wait until December for their exclusive gameweek.

As well as this, the last Champions League matchday will see every game kick-off at the same time. All 18 matches will start at 8pm (BST) on Wednesday, 29th January, with the hope that the new 36-team league format will result in fewer dead rubbers as the competition gets closer to the knockout stages.

Information gathered from Transfermarkt and UEFA Documents – Correct as of 17/09/24.