The UEFA Champions League wraps up its first-ever 36-team group stage Wednesday, with 18 simultaneous games that will determine which teams advance, and who crashes out at the first hurdle.
This season’s changes include a ‘Swiss model’ group stage format that sees every team play eight games for the right to move on to the knockout stage. While some giants like Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, and Inter Milan have proceeded to the top of the standings, the new system has opened the door to some surprises: Dutch side Feyenoord and French debutants Brest currently sit ahead of perennial contenders like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and Juventus.
The biggest potential shock is further down the table, where Manchester City — winners of four straight Premier League titles — faces a must-win match against Club Brugge. Anything less than a victory will see one of global soccer’s biggest powers on the sidelines in the knockout stage.
Here’s what to know about the new Champions League format and how to watch the final set of group-stage games.
Champions League format: How does group stage work?
For 2024-25, the Champions League made its first significant format change in many years. That included an expansion of the pool of teams to qualify, as well as extending the knockout stage to include one more round.
The long-standing set-up saw 32 teams divvied up into eight groups of four, with the top two teams from each group moving on to a round-of-16 knockout round. From there, it was simple: come out on top in a pair of games against your opponent (one at home, one away), and you advance, with the final two teams left playing a one-game final at a venue picked well in advance.
This season’s Champions League is much different. 36 teams qualified for the tournament proper, and the many small groups have been replaced by one huge table pooling every participant. UEFA — despite growing discontent over how many games top-tier professional teams are being asked to play — has given each group-stage qualifier an eight-game schedule (up from six in years past). The Champions League now features 189 total games, an increase of 64 from the previous format’s 125.
Each team plays four home games, and four away, with UEFA using the ‘Swiss model’ seen in international chess to sort a schedule. The eight teams who put together the best performance over that spell advance directly to the round of 16, while the bottom 12 sides in the table are eliminated.
For the remaining 16 teams, advancement into a new ‘knockout phase play-off’ round awaits. UEFA will use standing order as a form of seeding, but curiously will include a draw to actually pair teams. For example, the teams that finish ninth and 10th will be placed into one pot, while the teams in 23rd and 24th (the final two berths to the knockout stage) will be in another.
The draw will then pair one team from each pot, meaning the ninth-placed team will play either the 23rd- or 24th-placed team. This process will continue for the teams in 11th and 12th (paired with the teams that finish 21st and 22nd) and so on, with each pairing playing home-and-away games February 11-12 and 18-19.
The winners of those games will join the top eight group-stage participants in the round of 16, which will be sorted in a similar process to (in theory) give the best-performing teams a lesser foe. From that point on, the tournament returns to a normal rhythm, with the eight winners proceeding to quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final on May 31 at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Champions League: Schedule for Wednesday games
All matches kick off at 3 p.m. ET. Home teams listed first.
- Aston Villa vs. Celtic
- Bayer Leverkusen vs. Sparta Prague
- Borussia Dortmund vs. Shakhtar Donetsk
- Young Boys vs. Red Star Belgrade
- Barcelona vs. Atalanta
- Bayern Munich vs. Slovan Bratislava
- Inter Milan vs. Monaco
- Red Bull Salzburg vs. Atlético Madrid
- Girona vs. Arsenal
- Dinamo Zagreb vs. AC Milan
- Juventus vs. Benfica
- Lille vs. Feyenoord
- Manchester City vs. Club Brugge
- PSV vs. Liverpool
- Sturm Graz vs. RB Leipzig
- Sporting CP vs. Bologna
- Brest vs. Real Madrid
- Stuttgart vs. Paris Saint-Germain
How to watch Champions League group stage: Time, TV channel, streaming
The conclusion of the 2024-25 Champions League group stage will see all 18 simultaneous games streamed on Paramount+, with one game — Juventus vs. Benfica — being broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
Fans can stream that latter game on Fubo, which is offering a free trial for new subscribers.
- Date: Wednesday, Jan. 29
- Time: 3 p.m. ET (12 p.m. PT)
- TV: CBS Sports Network (Juventus vs. Benfica only)
- Streaming: Paramount+ for all games, Fubo (Juventus vs. Benfica only)
Watch the Champions League group stage on Paramount+
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