UEFA confirm Thursday matches in the Champions League | OneFootball

UEFA have confirmed that some Champions League matches will be on Thursday next season, with the full fixture schedule now revealed.

English former football player Joe Cole shows the paper slip of Arsenal FC during the draw for the 2023/2024 UEFA Champions League football tournament at The Grimaldi Forum in the Principality of Monaco, on August 31, 2023. (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Finishing second in this season’s Premier League, Arsenal have qualified for the 2024/25 Champions League, along with fellow Premier League sides Manchester City, Liverpool, and Aston Villa.

Yet despite making it into the Champions League, the Gunners may still have a European game on a Thursday next season.

UEFA have confirmed the fixture schedule for next year, with the vast majority of matches taking place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays as usual.

However, the first gameweek of the campaign (September 17th-19th) will be a “Champions League exclusive” week, with no Europa League or Europa Conference League matches played that week.

Arsenal’s team photo during the UEFA Champions League quarter final first-leg football match between Arsenal and Bayern Munich at the Arsenal Stadium, in north London, on April 9, 2024. (Photo by IAN KINGTON/IKIMAGES/AFP via Getty Images)

UEFA had previously confirmed that each European competition will get one exclusive gameweek, with only matches from that competition taking place in that particular midweek.

As a result, with no Europa League or Europa Conference League matches on Thursday, September 19th, some Champions League matches will be played that day instead.

The one other key date of note is January 29th, the end of the ‘league stage’. All 36 teams will play on that Wednesday, with no Champions League games on the Tuesday of that week.

Arsenal celebrate after winning the penalty shoot-out session of the UEFA Champions League last 16 second leg football match between Arsenal and Porto FC at the Arsenal Stadium in north London, on March 12, 2024. (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)

For those unaware of the new league-stage format for the Champions League, Arsenal will play eight matches against eight different teams, with four at home and four away.

The results of those eight games will be compared with the results of the eight matches of all other 35 teams in the competition to create a combined league table.

The top-eight finishers progress directly to the round-of-16, finishers 9 to 24 progress to a play-off round, whilst finishers 25 to 36 are eliminated.

After that, it’s a two-legged knockout tournament to the final as usual.

Champions League dates in full

League Stage

Knockout Stage