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The Champions League has undergone a drastic revamp ahead of the 2024/25 season which sees the number of matches in the new format increase from 125 to 189.

The league phase will now be completed at the end of January instead of during December, while there will be weeks exclusively dedicated to the Champions League in the football calendar when no other European competitions are played.

The winners will have played 17 games across the competition, while matches played across Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Europe's premier club competition will become the new normal.

At least 10 of next season's 36 clubs participating in the new league phase will come from Italy and Germany. Sky Sports provides you with a comprehensive guide to how the new format will work...

Champions League final 2024: All you need to know

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When is the draw for the league phase?

The draw for the league phase will be held on August 29.

How does the new Champions League format work?

Taking the total number of teams from 32 to 36 in the Champions League, the biggest change will see a transformation from the traditional group stage to a single league phase including all participating teams.

Every club will now be guaranteed a minimum of eight league-stage games against eight different opponents (four home games, four away) rather than the previous six matches against three teams, played on a home-and-away basis.

The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stages, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure a place in the last 16 of the competition.

Teams ranked 25-36 are eliminated from all competitions.

OK, but how does the draw work in practice?

First of all, why the change? Well, if the old draw concept for the group stage were to be applied to the new league phase format, nearly 1,000 balls would be required with at least 36 bowls on stage.

Even those who love a draw will realise that would be unbearably long. So UEFA is going to use a supercomputer to generate most of the work.

First, all 36 teams will be manually drawn with a physical ball on stage.

Then, for every team manually drawn, a designated automated software will randomly draw eight opponents across the four pots - to be shown on screen and on stage at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo for all to see.

The software will then decide which fixtures are home and away.

The draw will start with Pot 1 (containing the strongest teams and current holders of the Champions League) and work down through the four pots.

Then what?

The 36 clubs will be seeded into four different pots based on their individual club coefficient at the start of the season.

Each team will be drawn against two different teams from each pot, playing one team at home and one away.

Teams will play eight matches against eight different teams.

When will fans who the fixture dates?

The finalised fixture list will be released on Saturday August 31.

How many teams can you face from any one nation?

In the league phase, teams cannot face opponents from their own country and can face a maximum of two sides from the same country.

Which teams have qualified for the league phase?

Shakhtar Donetsk and Benfica have qualified by virtue of the Champions League and Europa League winners having already qualified via their domestic league performance or as a result of their country's collective performance in Europe this season.

We are still in the midst of the qualifying rounds, but here are the teams guaranteed to enter the league phase:

UEFA Europa League winners: Atalanta

England: Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa

Spain: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Girona, Atletico Madrid

Germany: Leverkusen, Stuttgart, Bayern, Leipzig, Dortmund

Italy: Inter Milan, AC Milan, Bologna, Juventus

France: Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco, Brest

Netherlands: PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord

Portugal: Sporting CP

Belgium: Club Brugge

Scotland: Celtic

Austria: Sturm Graz

Champions League winner rebalancing: Shakhtar Donetsk

Europa League winner rebalancing: Benfica

Based on UEFA coefficients, what do the projected pots look like?

Pot One - Man City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, PSG, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona

Pot Two - Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atlanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan

Pot Three - Feyenoord, Sporting CP, PSV, Lille*, PAOK*, Young Boys*, Celtic, Galatasaray*, Union SG*

Pot Four - Midtylland*, AS Monaco, Sparta Prague*, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Stade Brestois

* Clubs yet to advance through qualifying rounds - clubs with highest UEFA coefficients included here

What about the qualifying rounds?

Seven teams will enter via winning a two-legged play-off.

Rangers are entering the third qualifying round, and have been drawn to face Dynamo Kyiv or FK Partizan. The first leg is on Tuesday August 6 with the return a week later on August 13.

Philippe Clement's side are one of the seeded clubs along with Slavia Prague, Red Bull Salzburg and Lille. Should Rangers prevail, they will have their sights set on the play-off round.

The first legs of those take place on August 20-21 with the return legs on August 27-28.

Which nations gained the extra places?

Two leagues - Italy and Germany - have been rewarded with an extra place in next season's Champions League based on performance in Europe this season.

This was based around the best average coefficient of all teams participating in Europe for each country. The two leagues with the best score received an extra place.

Atalanta have secured at least a fourth-placed finish in the Italian top flight following a 3-0 victory over Torino last weekend.

The result also ruled out the possibility of a sixth Serie A spot qualifying for the Champions League next season.

When are the 2024/25 Champions League league-stage matches?

Matchday 1: September 17-19, 2024

Matchday 2: October 1/2, 2024

Matchday 3: October 22/23, 2024

Matchday 4: November 5/6, 2024

Matchday 5: November 26/27, 2024

Matchday 6: December 10/11, 2024

Matchday 7: January 21/22, 2025

Matchday 8: January 29, 2025

When are the 2024/25 Champions League knockout stages?

Knockout round play-offs: February 11/12 and February 18/19, 2025

Round of 16: March 4/5 and March 11/12, 2025

Quarter-finals: April 8/9 and April 15/16, 2025

Semi-finals: April 29/30 and May 6/7, 2025

Final: May 21, 2025

Where is the Champions League final being held in 2025?

The 2024/25 UEFA Champions League season will take place in Munich at the Allianz Arena on May 31, 2025.

Europa League and Europa Conference League changing too?

Similar changes will be made to the Europa League and Europa Conference League formats, with 36 teams in each.

Teams in the Europa League will have eight matches against eight different opponents in the league phase.

In the Europa Conference League - renamed the UEFA Conference League - teams will have six matches against six different opponents in the league phase. The UEFA Conference League games will be played between September and December.

The knockout phases of the competitions will take place through the second half of the season and culminate at the end of the campaign, as they do now.

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Are Manchester United getting a new stadium? What will it mean for the future of Old Trafford? And how much will this all cost? Sky Sports takes a look at the key questions...

Could Man Utd get a new stadium?

The Daily Telegraph reported in February that Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to create a new stadium for United, who have spent the last 114 years at Old Trafford, which holds nearly 74,000 spectators.

The plan, according to the report, would see United create a 'Wembley of the North' to rival the 90,000-seater national stadium in north London.

Now the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force - which Ratcliffe chairs - has backed up that viewpoint, throwing its weight behind the idea of a new stadium which could reportedly hold up to 100,000. That would make it the largest in the UK.

It is still early days and premature to suggest that this is the only direction United will take, though it is the favoured route to create a new world-class venue with surrounding benefits.

The Future of Football Stadiums: Renovation, not relocation

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Other members in the task force include Lord Coe, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham.

"I was told that Sir Jim Ratcliffe turned up for one of his meetings and he had the feeling that for arguably the biggest football club in the world, the wow factor just wasn't there. I agree with that," said United We Stand Editor Andy Mitten to Sky Sports News in February.

What is Man Utd's stance on this?

According to the Telegraph's original report, Ratcliffe is against the idea of relocating the club, but feels supporters will be behind a stadium move if they stay within the same land.

United own around 100 acres of land around Old Trafford, 43 acres of that land is ripe for development. Around 25 acres are said to be unused, and the club feel it is under-utilised.

Now the task force has concluded it could be best used to build an entirely new stadium, rather than renovating the existing ground.

United have already been researching what other sports clubs have done around the world, including the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, the venue in which they suffered pre-season defeat to Arsenal.

As part of the Future of Football series, Jim Heverin, a director at Zaha Hadid Architects, said the manner in which Barcelona, Real Madrid and Liverpool have renovated their own stadia, rather than building new ones, is the template United should follow.

"At Old Trafford, you'd definitely expect them to be thinking about repurposing and not going anywhere else. Look at what Liverpool has been doing with these small modifications and upgrades. That looks like the future and not brand new stadiums," he said.

"I know why Everton are moving but that is looking more like the old way of looking at new stadiums, particularly when you have something already that is an asset."

Sky Sports' Neville, part of the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force, has been very vocal about the need to improve the Old Trafford facilities. "Maybe what Liverpool have done is the way forward," he said late last year.

"If there is a shortage of funds, maybe get one or two stands, absolutely world class, and the other two follow up over the next five to 10 years. That would be a plan."

What's wrong with Old Trafford?

Oh, quite a lot. "Old Trafford is falling down" is the first line of a chant that fans of rival clubs have continually used to point fun at United this season.

The falling standards of United's ground have been well-documented, the latest example coming in the wake of their home defeat to Arsenal in May, where areas of the stadium flooded following a thunderstorm, with water also falling through the roof.

Other videos of run-down parts of the ground have circulated online in recent years and even though it is the largest club stadium in England, it was not selected to be one of the host venues for Euro 2028 in the UK and Ireland.

"The main stand does need doing, so does the roof, but the exterior of the stadium needs doing too," added Mitten. "It looks a little bit red in different areas and there are fundamental issues with Old Trafford which are not great. The legroom is notorious in the stadium.

"The designs of stadiums have changed since then when they first designed stadiums and the legroom is still the same now.

"It's a beautiful stadium, Old Trafford - but I'm not a fan of the roof because I think it comes in too low. Old Trafford shouldn't be getting smaller, it should be getting bigger."

Neville has been very vocal about the need to improve the Old Trafford facilities. "I've heard that there is only a couple of hundred million of pounds or so being spent on Old Trafford. That's nowhere near enough," he said late last year.

"I'd rather have £200m spent on the old stadium and have two parts of Old Trafford looking absolutely amazing. It's important that you have pride in where you play and Old Trafford is an amazing stadium."

The last time the club undertook major works on Old Trafford was in May 2006, when 8,000 seats were added to the north-west and north-east quadrants of the stadium.

That work was approved before the Glazer family took control of the club in June 2005, meaning no work has been done to renovate Old Trafford since United's majority shareholders took over 19 years ago.

What do Man Utd fans think about the situation?

Mitten believes the Manchester United fans are divided on how they want Old Trafford to be redeveloped, but adds that money and costs will come into the equation.

"From what I can see Manchester United fans are split on the decision of redeveloping or building a new stadium," he said.

"I've been lucky enough to see some stadium developments around Europe such as Marseille. I've always favoured a redevelopment but I'm open to hearing and so are other fans. If the redevelopment ends up costing more money than a new stadium then that sheds the debate into a different area.

"Some fans love the idea of a new stadium. I love what Real Madrid have done and what Barcelona are doing, but I'm not completely against the idea of building a new stadium.

"I just favour a redevelopment. For me, Old Trafford just needs to be expanded. Old Trafford is a brilliant stadium but it's not the best stadium in the world."

What have other clubs done recently?

Staying on the same land is a move Tottenham made when they developed their new stadium. Spurs left their old White Hart Lane ground in 2016, spent nearly three seasons at Wembley, before moving back into their new 61,000-seater venue in early 2019.

One issue is that Old Trafford is located between a railway line and a canal, making the logistics relatively challenging. While Brentford managed to overcome a similar challenge for their Gtech Community Stadium in 2020, their stadium is much smaller, holding just 17,000 fans.

The renovation of the Aviva Stadium in Dublin's Lansdowne Road also saw railway-line-related challenges, with a line running alongside the west of the stadium. That renovation was completed in 2010.

And the big one... how much would this cost?

The Daily Telegraph reported that expanding Old Trafford would cost United around £800m, whereas a new ground would cost around £1.5bn to £2bn.

Tottenham's new stadium cost the club around £1.2bn, according to Spurs owner Daniel Levy in an interview in November 2020.

As part of his £1.2bn deal to buy a stake in United, Ratcliffe is putting £239m into the club to help boost the club's infrastructure. Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim, who rivalled Ratcliffe in the running to control United, was willing to pledge £1.27bn for the same work.

Financing has been one of the key considerations of the task force, and a wide variety of potential private funding sources will be explored. There could be opportunities for a public-private partnership to power the regeneration of the area.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Burnham said earlier this year: "Whatever it is they [Ratcliffe and INEOS] want, we will facilitate and we will be there to make sure the club is set up for the future."

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