The Champions League 24/25: What to expect 

The 2024/2025 UEFA Champions League (UCL) has brought many new additions to the tournament to accompany the 69-year-old competition. With teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid from Spain, Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal from England, the Champions League is one of the most prestigious football events in the world on par with the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Football Championship. 

This season, UEFA has decided to scrap the usual group stage system and implement a 36-team table stage at the start of the competition. Under this format, all teams will play 8 other teams (4 home and 4 away games). After these games, the teams ranked from 1 to 8 will move to the next round. Meanwhile, teams ranked 9 to 24 will compete in playoff games to determine the other half of the teams to continue to the round of 16 stage. 

(The Format for the 24/25 UEFA Champions League)

Predictions

Football fans will receive many exciting matchups in the Champions League for the next few months. The top clubs will once again battle for the right to become European champions, and with competition comes predictions for the winners and the losers. Predicting the Champions League is incredibly difficult due to the high contest level. Still, the favourites to win include the England Premier champions Manchester City, PSG and Bayern Munich. But as the previous year’s winner, Real Madrid is a heavy favourite to win again, especially with their new superstar, Kylian Mbappe. This also makes them the most valuable team in terms of player market value globally at a staggering €1.34 billion. 

Conclusion 

The 2024/2025 UEFA Champions League will again deliver spectacular matches and underdog stories, as it always has. Especially with the new and exciting format, many things will change, but many will still stay the same, including the top clubs in Europe once again fighting for the top spot. Whether it’s Real Madrid defending their title or Manchester City wanting to reclaim their trophy, the upcoming UCL games will surely have fans sitting on the edge of their seats. Every team in the competition has a chance to win and upset others but the road to the finals is still long and arduous, the team that wins will have the players who gave it their all. 

References

Fantasy Football Pundit. (n.d.). [Champions league table format]. Fantasy Football Pundit. https://www.fantasyfootballpundit.com/new-champions-league-format-explained/

UEFA. (n.d.). [UCL Trophy]. The UEFA Champions League trophy. https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/022a-0e6a4115e42c-7a8e91e430ec-1000–the-uefa-champions-league-trophy/Wikipedia. (n.d.). UEFA Champions League Logo [Image]. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Champions_League