When is the Champions League draw and who could Barcelona face?

Barcelona are set to discover who they will face in the 2024-25 Champions League with the draw set to be made at 6pm CET (12pm ET) on Thursday, August 29, 2024 in Monaco.

It’s all changed this time around as this season sees the start of a very different, expanded Champions League format.

What’s different this year?

This year’s UCL sees 36 teams involved and each team will play eight fixtures against eight different opponents in the League Phase, which will replace the old Group Stage. Teams will play four home games and four on the road.

The top eight teams at the end of the League Phase progress automatically to the Round of 16, while those who finished from 9th to 24th will compete in a play-off to reach the Last 16. The rest are all eliminated from the tournament.

The Last 16 then sees the top eight League Phase teams take on the eight play-off winners for a place in the quarter-finals when it all (finally) goes back to normal.

Who can Barcelona face?

Barcelona are in Pot 1 and will face two teams from each pot. As usual, clubs from the same association can’t face each other so there’s no chance of the Catalans being drawn with Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid or Girona.

Pot 1: Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona.

Pot 2: Bayer Leverkusen, Atlético Madrid, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan.

Pot 3: Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Dinamo Zagreb, RB Salzburg, Lille, Red Star Belgrade, Young Boys, Celtic.

Pot 4: Slovan Bratislava, AS Monaco, Sparta Prague, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest.

When are the League Phase games?

Matchday 1: September 17-19

Matchday 2: October 1/2

Matchday 3: October 22/23

Matchday 4: November 5/6

Matchday 5: November 26/27

Matchday 6: December 10/11

Matchday 7: January 21/22, 2025

Matchday 8: January 29, 2025

Who will win the Champions League this season?

Well, now it’s over to you! Tell us how far you think Barca will go this season, which team will win the Champions League and what you think about the new format in the comments below!