Football will take centre stage in Monaco at the Principality’s Grimaldi Forum on Thursday, August 29 and Friday, August 30 with the UEFA draws and a new competition format.
On August 29, the group stage draw for the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League will kick off at 18:00, marking the official start of the season for over 700 European football representatives. The following day, August 30, will feature the draws for the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League group stages.
UEFA’s new format introduces eight matches against eight different teams in the group stage, replacing the previous system of playing three teams twice. This change aims to offer more competitive and balanced matches. Teams will be divided into four groups based on their coefficients, with the draws determining opponents and match locations.
The UEFA Conference League will see teams face six different opponents. Notably, teams cannot face clubs from their own country or more than two teams from the same nation.
The draws, involving a thousand balls and manual selections, will be followed by automatic software assigning opponents and home/away games, with the match calendar announced on August 31.
