How the Champions League playoffs work: the difference between finishing 9th and 24th

The new UEFA format for its main competitions (Champions League, Europa League and Conference League) has raised some doubts to fans, but after five matchdays, things are starting to fall into place.

Nine points are still at stake and things can change around, but everyone's got a pretty clear idea of who has the highest chance of qualifying and who will be eliminated.

The first eight teams of the league phase will automatically qualify for the round of 16, while teams that finish between 9th and 24th will go to a new playoff round. The bottom teams between 25th and 36th are automatically eliminated, with no relegation to Europa League.

As you can see, the survival margin of this League Phase is quite wide: 24 out of 36 teams will have have games assured until at least February.

But, does it matter what position my team finishes between 1-8 or between 9-24? The answer is yes.

Champions League's new playoff phase, explained

When we check UEFA's website on the new competition format, it just says "to strengthen the synergy between the league and knockout phases, and to provide more sporting incentive during the league phase, the pairings of the knockout phase will also be partly determined by the league phase rankings".

The rule is better explained in article 19.2 of the new competition (as spotted by Relevo). Teams that finish between 9th and 16th will be seeded in the knockout phase playoff draw and they will face a team placed 17th to 24th.

Pairings will not be random, and the better teams will face with the theoretically worse teams:

9th and 10th will face either 23rd or 24th
11th and 12th will face either 21st or 22nd
13th and 14th will face either 19th or 20th
15th and 16th will face either 17th or 18th

Teams between 9th and 16th will also have the benefit of playing the last game at home.

The draw will take place on January 31, and those games will be played between February 11-12 and February 18-19, 2025. The eight winners will be paired as usual with the eight winners from the League Phase for the round of 16, taking place in March.

Champions League table as of November 28th:

1. Liverpool


2. Internazionale


3. Barcelona


4. Borussia Dortmund


5. Atalanta


6. Bayer Leverkusen


7. Arsenal


8. AS Monaco


9. Aston Villa


10. Sporting CP


11. Brest


12. Lille


13. Bayern Munich


14. Benfica


15. Atlético Madrid


16. AC Milan


17. Manchester City


18. PSV Eindhoven


19. Juventus


20. Celtic


21. Feyenoord Rotterdam


22. Club Brugge


23. Dinamo Zagreb


24. Real Madrid


25. Paris Saint-Germain


26. Shakhtar Donetsk


27. VfB Stuttgart


28. Sparta Prague


29. SK Sturm Graz


30. Girona


31. Red Star Belgrade


32. RB Salzburg


33. Bologna


34. RB Leipzig


35. Slovan Bratislava


36. Young Boys