The draw for the 2024/25 season of the UEFA Champions League happened last night in Monaco as teams found out who will they face in the league round of the competition. Today, we will look at Paris Saint-Germain’s matches in the first round of the UCL.
Massive changes have been made to what was previously the group stage of the tournament. Firstly, there will now be 36 teams instead of 32. But the four-team expansion does not simply mean that there will be an extra group. Instead, UEFA has gotten rid of the group stage to what will now be the ‘League Phase’. Instead of eight groups of four teams each playing each other twice, all the teams will now be in one huge table of 36 sides. Each team will face eight separate teams once each.
Instead of six group matches, there will now be eight league matches. Each team will face four teams at their home and four other teams away. Before the draw, all the teams were divided into one of four pots based on their UEFA coefficient, which is the team’s ranking in the continent. Each team will face at least two teams from each pot, this ensures that each team will receive a varied but similar level of competition.
The teams that finish top eight will qualify for the round of 16. Teams that finish 9th to 24th will play in an elimination playoff, winning which will result them in going to the round of 16. The teams that finish 25th to 36th, being the bottom 12 teams, will be eliminated from the competition and will not even play in the Europa League or the Conference League.
While all the matches and the Matchday dates have been announced, the actual dates for any of the matches will be announced on August 31. This means that despite knowing the dates on which the UCL matches will take place, we don’t know the exact date for any particular game.
Having said that, here are the eight teams that Paris Saint-Germain will face in the League Phase of the 2024/25 Champions League: Paris Saint-Germain UCL 2024-25 League Phase Draw.
Paris Saint-Germain UCL 2024-25 League Phase Draw
1) Manchester City (Home)
A big-money match in more ways than one, while PSG and Man City two are the biggest, the most successful, and the richest clubs in their domestic league, they have had very different paths in European football. While City won the UCL a couple of seasons ago, the defending Ligue 1 champions are yet to do so. However, Paris-Saint Germain has gotten rid of several of their superstar players and is starting anew, this includes skiing Kylian Mbappe in the recent transfer window. They were in Pot One of the draw.
2) Bayern Munich (Away)
This is one of the few former Champions League final rematches this season. Specifically, this was the UCL final for the 2019/20 season, with Bayern taking the win that time around. The Bavarians are coming off not winning any major trophy for the first time in 14 seasons and new manager Vincent Kompany will be looking to win it all as an appropriate bounce-back. Bayern Munich came second in the Bundesliga to reach the UEFA Champions League and was in Pot One of the draw.
3) Athletico Madrid (Home)
While Athletico Madrid has never won the UEFA Champions League, they are always tough customers. Big teams usually look to avoid Atleti. The Madrid-based club has been to a few UCL finals and finished fourth in La Liga to reach the league this time around. Athletico Madrid was in Pot Two of the draw.
4) Arsenal (Away)
Arsenal has emerged as the second-strongest English club in the last couple of years. In the 2022/23 season, they finished second in the Premier League after leading the table for the majority of the season. Last season’s story was the same, as a second-place finish brought them to the UCL. After a few years away from the Champions League, Arsenal has now returned to win the title for the first time. They were in Pot Two of the draw.
5) PSV Eindhoven (Home)
One of the big three clubs in the Netherlands, PSV Eindhoven won the Eredivisie last season to make it to the UCL. This is a side that regularly plays European football but scarcely makes it to the knockout rounds of the Champions League. One of the teams that the new change in League phase rules will benefit, PSV was in Pot Three of the draw.
6) Red Bull Salzburg (Away)
Europe’s talent factory has been a regular customer of the Champions League, qualifying almost every year due to their dominance in their domestic league. Having finished second in the championship playoff of the Austrian Bundesliga last season, Salzburg had to defeat Twente and Dynamo Kyiv in the qualifying round to even make it to the UCL. Red Bull Salzburg was in Pot three of the draw.
7) Girona (Home)
Newcomers to the Champions League, Girona never even played in the top-tier of Spanish football until the 2017-18 season, making their way back into La Liga in 2022/23, they shocked the world the very next season, leading the table for much of the season before first losing out to Real Madrid and then Barcelona. Despite that, a third-placed finish for this club is a massive deal as it sent them to the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history. Girona was in Pot Four of the Draw.
8) Stuttgart (Away)
The club lowest on the UEFA coefficient list in the league, Stuttgart finished second in the Bundesliga last season to book a place into the UCL, which is a higher finish than Bayern Munich and might be even more impressive than Bayer Leverkusen winning the league for the first time. Stuttgart was in Pot Four of the draw.
These are all the games Paris Saint-Germain will play in the League Phase of the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 as they look to finally become the European champions for the first time.
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