Real Madrid’s possible opponents for the 2024/25 UCL League phase ahead of draw | OneFootball

The UEFA Champions League is set for a major change in format starting from the 2024-25 campaign.

The traditional group stages will no longer take place as fans are accustomed to; instead, they will be replaced by a league format where every team will play four home and four away games.

The eight opponents of any particular team will be determined by an automatic draw and will comprise two teams from each of the four pots involved. Real Madrid, as the defending champions, are not exempt from these new rules.

Four Possible Opponents

Given that a team will face two opponents from each pot, Real Madrid will encounter four teams from the first two pots, which include Europe’s elite clubs, in the upcoming UCL campaign.

Real Madrid are bracing for a new format of the UEFA Champions League. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen, Atalanta, Juventus, Arsenal, AC Milan, Benfica, Club Brugge, and Shakhtar Donetsk are the teams currently placed in the top two pots.

Real Madrid will thus face four of the aforementioned clubs as part of the league phase, which will precede the knockout stages. Notably, no more than two of these opponents can be from the same country.

With massive changes planned, the upcoming UCL campaign promises to be an intriguing one, and the world is curious to see how the new format pans out in practice.

Real Madrid, regardless of the changes, will continue to be one of the favourites in the competition, especially after the arrival of Kylian Mbappe.

The draw for the league phase of the competition will take place on August 29th and will only include single-legged ties, as opposed to the previous format.

Instead of facing three teams twice each, Los Blancos will face eight opponents once, which will be fascinating to follow.