Champions League is an iconic tournament with a unique history. Since its beginnings in 1992 it has grown into a competition that offers the best clubs across Europe the chance to prove they have it all. With a global audience surpassing previous European club competitions, exponential amounts of money have changed hands as clubs seek the opportunity to lift the trophy.
The Champions League started as a knockout tournament between the champions of Europe’s biggest domestic leagues. By 1991 the format was modified with a group stage and a new system that allowed multiple teams from one country to compete in the tournament. Then in 2024 the tournament moved from 32 to 36 teams, allowing more domestic sides than ever to qualify for the main event.
Each season the Champions League features a two-legged round of 16 before the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final at a venue chosen by UEFA. Two teams are drawn together in each of these rounds and, unlike other UEFA competitions, the Champions League doesn’t feature a traditional association draw protection.
The changes to the competition were implemented to increase sporting interest in the league phase and provide more clarity for the pairings in the knockout phases. The league phase still sees teams play a minimum of eight matches, but rather than being divided into groups they are ranked and then placed into a draw to create individual fixtures lists. That means that a single result can have an enormous impact on a team’s position and can mean the difference between qualifying for the last 16, passing into a play-off round, or being eliminated altogether.