Arsenal’s 8 Champions League opponents confirmed | OneFootball

Arsenal have learned their Champions League opponents for the league phase of the 2024/25 competition, with the draw taking place on Thursday afternoon.

Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka takes a corner kick during the pre-season friendly football match for the Emirates Cup final between Arsenal and and Lyon, at the Emirates Stadium in London on August 11, 2024. (Photo by BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP via Getty Images)

The draw for the Champions League League Phase took place on Thursday afternoon, with Arsenal learning all of their eight opponents for this round of the competition.

Each team face two opponents from Pot 1, two from Pot 2, two from Pot 3, and two from Pot 4, regardless of the pot they themselves are in. But for the record, Arsenal are a Pot 2 team this season.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at Arsenal’s draw.

Arsenal’s League Phase draw

Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta gestures on the touchline during the English Premier League football match between Aston Villa and Arsenal at Villa Park in Birmingham, central England on August 24, 2024. (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)

The team at home is listed first below, the fixtures will not necessarily be in this order, with the calendar to be determined on Saturday.

What is the new Champions League format?

The UEFA Champions League trophy during the draw for the UEFA Champions League 2023-2024 at The Grimaldi Forum in the Principality of Monaco. (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images)

The new competition will begin with a “league stage”, with all 36 clubs ranked against each other in one big league table. The table will be determined by points, three points for a win and one for a draw.

Each club will play eight matches in the league stage, with four at home, and four away. But the matches will be against eight different teams, you’ll only play each opponent once.

After that, the competition will move to the knockout stages.

The teams finishing in the top eight in the league stage will progress directly to the round-of-16, whilst teams nine to 24 will enter a two-legged play-off round to try and join the top eight.

Teams finishing 25th or below in the league stage will be eliminated, and they won’t drop into the Europa League. The losers of the play-off round will also not drop into the Europa League.

From the round-of-16 onwards, the competition will play out as it normally does, with two-legged knockout ties until the single-leg final.

The knockout stages will be partially seeded, with your league finish giving you an easier path against worse opponents if you finished higher in the league table. But there will still be a seeded draw to determine your exact opponents.

When will the matches be played?

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND: Leandro Trossard of Arsenal celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with teammates during the Premier League match between Aston Villa FC and Arsenal FC at Villa Park on August 24, 2024. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

League Stage

Arsenal will play one match on each of the eight league stage matchdays, listed below. The exact details of all the fixtures will be confirmed on Saturday, 31st August.

Knockout Stage

If Arsenal finish 1st-8th in the league stage, they’ll then jump to the round-of-16. If they finish 9th-24th, they’ll play in the knockout round play-offs, giving the team an extra two games in February.

If they finish 25th-36th, their participation in European competition will end on January 29th.