Explained: How the UEFA Champions league pots and opponents for each team was determined

This season’s Champions League campaign will take a new format that has been quite confusing for most of the fans.

The competition will feature 36 teams that will participate under the principle of the regular domestic league qualification and also the club co-efficient ranking.

The co-efficient rankings are determined by the clubs performance across European competitions for the past 5 seasons. These rankings will be updated after each round of the UEFA club competition matches.

The first pot include the Champions League holders regardless of their position in the coefficient rankings.

The holders are then joined by the top 8 teams that will appear on the list and that have qualified domestically.

Meaning, for example, Roma ranked 6th on the list but would not be selected because it did not qualify for a champions league spot in the domestic league, Serie A.

So another team below it like Bayern Leverkusen will be picked as they managed a Champions League spot in Bundesliga

In this case, Real Madrid fell in pot 1 as they are the current holders, and then got joined in the pot by Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Barcelona.

Pot 2 comprises of the next 9 qualified teams in the rankings. This goes on to pot 4.

From each pot, a team was selected randomly and a computer determined not only the opponents the team would face but whether the game would be a home game or an away game.

For example when Manchester City was manually selected by Gianluigi Buffon, the simulation button was pressed by Cristiano Ronaldo and the computer randomly selected two opponents from each of the four pots selecting randomly also the nature of the game whether home or away.

The finalised fixtures for the already determined home and away matches will be revealed on Saturday.

Manchester City: Inter Milan (H), PSG (A), Club Brugge (H), Juventus (A), Feyenoord (H), Sporting Lisbon (A), Sparta Prague (H), Slovan Bratislava (A)

Arsenal: PSG (H), Inter Milan (A), Shakhtar Donetsk (H), Atalanta (A), Dinamo Zagreb (H), Sporting Lisbon (A), Monaco (H), Girona (A)

Liverpool: Real Madrid (H), RB Leipzig (A), Bayer Leverkusen (H), AC Milan (A), Lille (H), PSV (A), Bologna (H), Girona (A)

Aston Villa: Bayern Munich (H), RB Leipzig (A), Juventus (H), Club Brugge (A), Celtic (H), Young Boys (A), Bologna (H), Monaco (A)

Real Madrid: Dortmund (H), Liverpool (A), AC Milan (H), Atalanta (A), Salzburg (H), Lille (A), Stuttgart (H), Brest (A)

Barcelona: Bayern Munich (H), Dortmund (A), Atalanta (H), Benfica (A), Young Boys (H), Red Star Belgrade (A), Brest (H), Monaco (A)

Atlético Madrid: RB Leipzig (H), PSG (A), Bayer Leverkusen (H), Benfica (A), Lille (H), RB Salzburg (A), Slovan Bratislava (H), Sparta Prague (A)

Bayern Munich: PSG (H), Barcelona (A), Benfica (H), Shakhtar Donetsk (A), Dinamo Zagreb (H), Feyenoord (A), Slovan Bratislava (H), Aston Villa (A)

Bayer Leverkusen: Inter Milan (H), Liverpool (A), Atlético Madrid (A), AC Milan (H), RB Salzburg (H), Feyenoord (A), Sparta Prague (H), Brest (A)

Borussia Dortmund: Barcelona (H), Real Madrid (A), Shakhtar Donetsk (H), Club Brugge (A), Celtic (H), Dinamo Zagreb (A), Sturm Graz (H), Bologna (A)

Inter Milan: RB Leipzig (H), Man City (A), Arsenal (H), Leverkusen (A), Red Star Belgrade (H), Young Boys (A), Monaco (H), Sparta Prague (A)

AC Milan: Liverpool (H), Real Madrid (A), Club Brugge (H), Bayer Leverkusen (A), Red Star Belgrade (H), Dinamo Zagreb (A), Girona (H), Slovan Bratislava (A)

Juventus: Man City (H), RB Leipzig (A), Benfica (H), Club Brugge (A), PSV (H), Lille (A), Stuttgart (H), Aston Villa (A)

Paris Saint-Germain: Man City (H), Bayern Munich (A), Atlético Madrid (H), Arsenal (A), PSV (H), RB Salzburg (A), Girona (H), Stuttgart (A)

Celtic: RB Leipzig (H), Borussia Dortmund (A), Club Brugge (H), Atalanta (A), Young Boys (H), Dinamo Zagreb (A), Slovan Bratislava (H), Aston Villa (A)

Matchday 1: 17–19 September 2024Matchday 2: 1/2 October 2024Matchday 3: 22/23 October 2024Matchday 4: 5/6 November 2024Matchday 5: 26/27 November 2024Matchday 6: 10/11 December 2024Matchday 7: 21/22 January 2025Matchday 8: 29 January 2025

Knockout round play-offs: 11/12 & 18/19 February 2025Round of 16: 4/5 & 11/12 March 2025Quarter-finals: 8/9 & 15/16 April 2025Semi-finals: 29/30 April & 6/7 May 2025Final: 31 May 2025