The top eight advance directly. Everyone else fights for scraps.
En el Fórum Grimaldi de Mónaco, la UEFA dio inicio oficial a la edición 70 de la Champions League con un sorteo que no solo distribuyó rivales, sino que inauguró una nueva era del fútbol europeo. La competición se expande de 32 a 36 equipos y abandona la fase de grupos tradicional en favor de una liga única donde cada club disputa ocho partidos antes de que los mejores ocho avancen directamente a octavos y los clasificados del noveno al 24.° lugar se jueguen su pase en una ronda de playoffs. Es el intento de un torneo centenario por reinventarse sin perder su esencia: la búsqueda del mejor club del continente.
- La UEFA rompe con décadas de tradición al eliminar los grupos clásicos y lanzar una fase de liga única con 36 equipos compitiendo en una sola tabla general.
- El sorteo en Mónaco generó expectativa máxima: gigantes como Real Madrid, Manchester City y PSG conocieron sus ocho rivales de otoño en un formato que no perdona tropiezos tempranos.
- La nueva ronda de playoffs crea una segunda oportunidad para 16 equipos, inyectando incertidumbre y drama que el viejo formato de grupos rara vez producía.
- Los equipos que terminen del puesto 25 en adelante quedan eliminados sin red de seguridad, elevando el costo de cada derrota en la fase de liga.
- La expansión es celebrada por quienes ven más oportunidades para ligas menores, pero cuestionada por tradicionalistas que temen la dilución del prestigio histórico del torneo.
El jueves 29 de agosto, la UEFA reunió a los protagonistas del fútbol europeo en el Fórum Grimaldi de Mónaco para sortear la edición 70 de la Champions League, marcando el arranque oficial de una transformación estructural largamente anticipada. La competición crece de 32 a 36 equipos y estrena un formato radicalmente distinto: en lugar de ocho grupos de cuatro, habrá una única fase de liga donde todos los clubes comparten una misma tabla y cada uno disputa ocho partidos —cuatro en casa, cuatro fuera— contra rivales asignados por el sorteo.
Los equipos fueron distribuidos en cuatro bombos según su coeficiente UEFA. El primero reúne a los más poderosos: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Múnich, PSG, Liverpool, Inter, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig y Barcelona. Los bombos siguientes incluyen a Bayer Leverkusen, Atlético de Madrid, Arsenal, Juventus, Atalanta y otros, hasta completar un campo que abarca clubes de España, Inglaterra, Alemania, Italia, Francia, Portugal y más de una docena de países europeos.
Al término de los ocho partidos de liga, los ocho primeros clasificados avanzan directamente a octavos de final. Los equipos del noveno al 24.° lugar disputarán una ronda de playoffs de ida y vuelta para definir los ocho cupos restantes. Quienes terminen del 25.° lugar en adelante quedan eliminados. Este mecanismo introduce una segunda oportunidad para la mitad del campo, pero también eleva el precio de cada tropiezo: ningún equipo puede permitirse una fase de liga irregular y confiar en recuperarse después.
La competición arranca a mediados de septiembre, con la primera jornada programada para el 17 al 19 de ese mes. La fase de liga concluirá el 29 de enero de 2025, seguida de los playoffs y la fase eliminatoria. El sorteo fue transmitido para América Latina a las 11:00 a.m. hora peruana por ESPN y Disney Plus.
La expansión no está exenta de debate. Los críticos advierten que más equipos y más partidos pueden diluir la calidad y el prestigio histórico del torneo. Sus defensores responden que el nuevo formato abre la puerta a ligas más pequeñas y genera mayor incertidumbre competitiva. En ese escenario, el Real Madrid —campeón defensor— parte como favorito, pero el margen de error se ha reducido para todos. El sorteo en Mónaco no fue solo un acto administrativo: fue la declaración de que la Champions League del siglo XXI se parece cada vez menos a la del pasado.
The Champions League is getting bigger. On Thursday, August 29th, UEFA gathered at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco to draw the brackets for the 2024-25 season—the 70th edition of Europe's premier club competition. The event marked the official launch of a structural overhaul that has been years in the making: the competition is expanding from 32 teams to 36, and the entire architecture of how teams advance has been rebuilt from the ground up.
The new format abandons the traditional group stage structure entirely. Instead of eight groups of four teams each, the competition now operates as a single league phase with all 36 clubs ranked in one table. Each team will play eight matches—four at home, four away—against opponents drawn from across the expanded field. The draw itself determines which eight opponents each club faces, with teams seeded into four pots based on their UEFA coefficient rankings. Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, and Barcelona occupy the first pot, the strongest clubs by recent performance. The second pot includes Bayer Leverkusen, Atlético Madrid, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, and AC Milan. The third and fourth pots round out the field with teams like Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, PSV, Dinamo Zagreb, and others from across the continent.
What happens after those eight league matches is where the real change takes shape. The top eight finishers in the overall standings advance directly to the round of 16—a reward for consistency and dominance. But teams finishing ninth through 24th don't go home. Instead, they enter a playoff round, a two-legged knockout format that will determine the remaining eight spots in the round of 16. This means 16 teams will have a second chance to reach the knockout stage, creating drama and uncertainty that the old group format could never quite deliver. Teams finishing 25th and below are eliminated entirely.
The draw took place on Thursday morning in Monaco, with the broadcast reaching Latin America at 11:00 a.m. Peruvian time via ESPN and Disney Plus. The competition kicks off in mid-September, with the first matchday scheduled for September 17-19. Eight matchdays will unfold over the fall and winter, with the final league phase match set for January 29, 2025. The playoffs will follow, and the knockout stage will proceed from there toward the final.
The 36-team field represents a significant expansion of European club football's most prestigious tournament. Spain sends four representatives: Real Madrid (the defending champions), Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, and Girona. England has four as well—Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Aston Villa. Germany contributes five teams, Italy five, and France three. Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine, Scotland, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovakia each send one or two clubs. The geographic spread is wider than ever, reflecting UEFA's ambition to make the competition truly continental in scope.
The expansion has been controversial among some traditionalists who worry that more teams and more matches will dilute the quality and prestige of the competition. Others argue that the new format creates more opportunities for smaller leagues to compete at Europe's highest level and generates more matches—and thus more revenue—for broadcasters and clubs. The playoff structure adds unpredictability: a team that finishes ninth could theoretically knock out a team that finished eighth, creating the possibility of dramatic reversals in fortune.
Real Madrid enters as the favorite, having won the competition in 2024 and dominating European football in recent years. But the expanded field and new format mean that the path to the final is genuinely uncertain. No team can afford to stumble in the league phase and assume they'll recover in the playoffs. The margin for error has shrunk, and the stakes have risen. The draw in Monaco set the stage for a competition that looks and feels different from anything that came before it—larger, more complex, and full of new possibilities for surprise.
Citas Notables
This is the 70th edition of the UEFA Champions League— UEFA
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why did UEFA decide to expand from 32 teams to 36? What was the actual problem they were trying to solve?
Money and relevance. The old format meant that some of Europe's strongest leagues—especially in countries like France and Portugal—had only one or two guaranteed spots. More teams means more matches, more broadcasting rights to sell, and more clubs with a genuine shot at the group stage. It also spreads the prestige and revenue around.
But doesn't that risk watering down the quality? If you're adding four more teams, aren't some of them going to be significantly weaker than the original 32?
That's the real tension. Yes, some of the 36 will be weaker than some of the old 32. But the playoff structure is the safety valve—if a weaker team sneaks into the top 24, they still have to beat someone in a two-legged tie to advance. The league phase itself is actually more competitive because everyone plays more matches against a wider range of opponents.
So the league phase is the real innovation here, not just the number of teams?
Exactly. Instead of being locked into a group of four where you play the same three opponents twice, you're now playing eight different opponents drawn from across Europe. You could face Real Madrid one week and a team from Serbia the next. It's less predictable, more dynamic.
What about the teams that finish 9-24? They have to play a playoff just to reach the round of 16?
Right. It's brutal but fair. You could finish ninth—still in the top third—and have to win a two-legged tie against someone else in that range just to keep going. It means there's no coasting, no "we'll be fine in the knockout stage" mentality.
Does this format favor the biggest clubs or does it actually open doors?
Both. The biggest clubs still have the best chance to finish in the top eight because they have deeper squads and more resources. But the playoff structure means a strong mid-tier team can knock out a weaker top-eight finisher. It's more meritocratic than the old format, where you could win your group and coast to the round of 16 without playing anyone truly elite.