The UEFA Champions League on Friday conducted the draw for the knockout stage, setting up the bracket for European soccer’s biggest annual tournament.
At the confederation’s headquarters in Switzerland, UEFA revealed the pairings for the first-ever playoff phase, a product of a major format change that expanded the Champions League. The top eight teams — a list that includes Premier League giants Liverpool and Arsenal, as well as La Liga juggernaut Barcelona — in the group stage advance directly to the round of 16, while 16 more clubs will fight for the right to join them.
This season’s edition included a 36-team group stage, with 24 clubs moving on to the knockout rounds. That’s a climb from the old approach, which separated 32 teams into eight groups of four, with 16 advancing to the knockout rounds. The draw results include what could have been a tournament final, with group-stage struggles resulting in Manchester City being paired with Real Madrid.
Here’s what to know about the knockout round draw results for the Champions League playoff phase:
Champions League: Knockout round playoff phase draw results, pairings
Friday morning, UEFA conducted the draw for the Champion League’s new playoff phase, which essentially adds one more round to the previous format’s knockout stage. 16 teams were sorted, with pairings influenced (but not entirely determined) by order of finish in the group stage.
Here are the results of the Champions League knockout round playoff phase draw:
Club Crugge vs. Atalanta
Sporting CP vs. Borussia Dortmund
Manchester City vs. Real Madrid
Celtic vs. Bayern Munich
Juventus vs. PSV Eindhoven
Feyenoord vs. AC Milan
Brest vs. Paris Saint-Germain
AS Monaco vs. Benfica
Champions League: Who received a knockout round bye?
The new format for this season’s Champions League awards the eight best teams from the group stage a direct berth in the round of 16, while the remaining 16 teams advance to the playoff phase. The round of 16 will begin on March 4.
The teams that will receive a bye are as follows:
Liverpool
Barcelona
Arsenal
Inter Milan
Atlético Madrid
Bayer Leverkusen
Lille
Aston Villa
How to watch Champions League: TV, time, streaming
The 2024-25 UEFA Champions League will resume play in February, with playoff phase games starting on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
The tournament is being broadcast on the CBS family of networks, including CBS Sports Network. Fans looking to watch matches online can find every game on Paramount+, which will have streams for each game throughout the knockout stage.
Watch the Champions League on Paramount+
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