The UEFA Champions League will conduct the draw for its knockout stage Friday in Switzerland, setting the bracket for world’s premier club soccer tournament for the rest of this season.
The 2024-25 edition of the Champions League saw the first major format change in decades, with the group stage standings sorting all 36 entrants (as opposed to the old standard that involved numerous groups of four). Wednesday’s final set of games resulted in 12 sides being eliminated, leaving 24 clubs to battle it out in an expanded knockout round.
The group stage came with plenty of drama. Manchester City, who have won four straight Premier League championships, trailed a must-win game at halftime only to survive and advance with a comeback victory. Many of the sport’s most famous clubs — teams like Liverpool, Barcelona, and Arsenal — advanced with ease, while upstarts like Lille, PSV, and Celtic surpassed expectations to claim knockout stage spots of their own.
Here’s what to know about the Champions League playoff phase draw:
When is Champions League draw for knockout round playoff?
UEFA will conduct the draw for the Champions League knockout round on Friday, Jan. 31 at the confederation’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw will begin at 6 a.m. ET.
What Champions League teams qualified for knockout round?
With the UEFA Champions League ending its group stage on Wednesday, this season’s format change has resulted in 24 teams advancing to the knockout round. The new format gave the top eight teams in the group stage a bye to the round of 16. In order of finish, those teams are the following:
Liverpool
Barcelona
Arsenal
Inter Milan
Atlético Madrid
Bayer Leverkusen
Lille
Aston Villa
16 more teams move on to a new playoff phase. Within that subset, the eight teams that finished higher in the group-stage standings will be seeded in Friday’s draw. Those eight teams are as follows:
Atalanta
Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid
Bayern Munich
AC Milan
PSV
Paris Saint-Germain
Benfica
Finally, the last eight teams to qualify for the knockout stage’s playoff phase are the following:
Monaco
Brest
Feyenoord
Juventus
Celtic
Manchester City
Sporting Clube
Club Brugge
Champions League knockout round playoff bracket
Despite the need for a draw, UEFA’s new format for the Champions League has given fans a rough look at what the knockout stage bracket will look like:
Friday’s draw will effectively take the standings from the group stage, and sort the teams that qualified for the playoff phase into eight pots of four. Teams that finished higher in the standings will be set up to play those that finished further down. For example, Atalanta (ninth place) and Borussia Dortmund (10th) will be in a pot with Sporting Clube (23rd) and Club Brugge (24th). The teams in 11th and 12th will be in a pot with those that finished 21st and 22nd, and so on.
The draw will determine which teams in a given pot will square off in the playoff phase: Atalanta could play Sporting Clube or Club Brugge, rather than the more clear-cut ‘higher seed vs. lower seed’ approach seen in events like NCAA’s college basketball tournament.
When does Champions League knockout round playoff begin?
The knockout round in the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League begins with the playoff phase, which will see all teams play home-and-away matches settled by aggregate scores over the two legs.
Games in the first leg of the playoff phase will be played on Feb. 11-12, with the second legs coming one week later on Feb. 18-19.
On Friday, Feb. 21, UEFA will hold a draw for the bracket for the rest of the knockout stage, beginning with the eight sides that secured an automatic berth in the round of 16 and the eight teams that advance through the playoff phase. The Champions League final will be held Saturday, May 31 at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
How to stream Champions League knockout round playoff draw
The Champions League knockout round draw on Friday can be streamed on Paramount+, UEFA.com, and on UEFA’s YouTube channel.
Watch the Champions League knockout draw on Paramount+
Champions League draw for knockout round: TV, time, streaming for Friday
Date: Friday, Jan. 31
Time: 6 a.m. ET (12 p.m. local)
Streaming: Paramount+, UEFA.com, UEFA’s YouTube channel
Location: House of European Football (Nyon, Switzerland)
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