If you’re a lover of the beautiful game, as we all are, this is surely one of the best times in the sporting calendar. We’ve had a super summer of international football, the top leagues in world football are up and running, the transfer window has slammed shut and now…the 2024-25 Champions League is just a short two weeks away.
This is the 70th edition of Europe’s biggest and best football competition and the 33rd since it was rebranded by UEFA as the Champions League; and the action kicks off on 17th September as defending champions Real Madrid aim to win a record breaking 16th European crown. They will have tough competition as ever, with the early Champions League 2024 betting odds installing 2023 champions Manchester City as the favourites.
The final will be at the Allianz Arena in Munich on May 31st and Bayern Munich will be another team vying for a place in the showcase match in their home city. But before then, in a totally new format, there will be 188 games in the competition proper, up from 125 last season. This year, now that all the pre-tournament qualifiers have been completed, there will be 36 teams at the group stage and they will play eight different opponents, pre-selected, but all the teams will be ranked in one big group.
At the end of the eight rounds the bottom 12 performing teams will say goodbye and the top eight teams will walk it through to the Round of 16; and there they will be joined by the winners of eight play-off matches contested by the teams which finished in the mid-table mass of ninth place to 24th place.
You know what? I think this could make the early stages of the Champions League more exciting, as the strongest teams battle it out for the top eight places to avoid the jeopardy of an early exit; and the lesser resourced hopefuls will fight like tigers to avoid relegation out of the competition.
Los Blancos start with Stuttgart
The reigning champions are in a really exciting group of teams and they will have matchups against Premier League heavyweights Liverpool, Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen and Serie A title chasers AC Milan. Carlo Ancelotti’s team open up with an intriguing fixture against Bundesliga surprise package VfB Stuttgart on Tuesday 17th September. VfB have lost their star striker Serhou Guirassy, the Guinea star has switched to Borussia Dortmund, and they have just picked up one point from their opening two league fixtures, but all eyes will be on Kylian Mbappe as the French star hopes to break through in European competition.
On the same day, Arne Slot’s Liverpool will travel for a mouth-watering opener away to AC Milan. The Reds have made a perfect start under their new manager; winning three games from three, scoring seven goals without conceding and, only on Sunday did they give Manchester United a 3-0 mauling at Old Trafford. In contrast Milan have made a stuttering start in Serie A, drawing twice and falling to a shock defeat away to Parma.
Elsewhere on Tuesday Bayern Munich will open up with a very winnable home tie against Dinamo Zagreb.
Manchester City have been drawn in a group with Inter Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus and Pep Guardiola’s team will open up with a repeat of the 2023 final when they face I Nerazzurri on Wednesday 18th September. Much like Liverpool, the Sky Blues have raced out of the Premier League traps with three wins from three and Erling Haaland has kicked off in phenomenal style with seven goals including two hat-tricks already. Inter have made a strong start to their Scudetto defence with two wins and a draw from their first three.
Also on Wednesday Paris Saint-Germain start European life without Mbappe when they host Girona, third place finishers in La Liga last season.
On Thursday 19th there are a host of tasty clashes as Europa League champions Atalanta host Premier League runners up Arsenal, Atletico Madrid play away to Red Bull Leipzig, Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen are on the road too in Feyenoord and La Liga pace setters Barcelona have a relatively short trip to Monaco to look forward to.
Europe’s flagship competition has taken on a totally new system but, as soon as the first set of fixtures are done and dusted and we see a league table forming we’ll get our heads around it pretty quickly. And you can rest assured that, here at SBOTOP, we’ll be first out there to keep you up to date with the latest Champions League 2024 news and updates as the action unfolds.
Bring it on!
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