Champions League 2025: now the Italian teams know their rivals in the new 36-team formula

In the Champions League the same 'score' as Italy - thanks to the highest coefficient in Europe for the 2023-2024 season - has Germany, which will be represented by Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Stuttgart, Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund. Four teams for Spain (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Girona, Atlético Madrid) and England (Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa) and three for France (Psg, Monaco, Brest). In this edition, there is the best of the best, although historic clubs such as Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea from England, Roma and Napoli from Italy, as well as Sevilla, Porto and Ajax are missing from the roll call.

But how does the new Champions League work? Forget the Italian rounds: the heir to the Champions Cup becomes a mini-league with eight days and 36 teams, instead of the 32 teams that played the first phase until last year, playing six rounds. With the increase in the number of teams participating in the Champions League, from 32 to 36, the most important change concerns the first phase, which becomes a single league with all teams competing. The teams are divided into four brackets according to their Uefa ranking (in the case of Italy, Inter are in the first bracket, Milan, Juventus and Atalanta in the second, Bologna in the fourth), so as to ensure the most balanced paths possible for the various contenders. Each team will in fact meet two opponents in each of the four brackets.

In the league phase, each club will be guaranteed at least eight matches against eight different teams (four home, four away), compared to the old six matches against three teams (home and away). For the time being, there will be no derbies between clubs from the same country and no more than two opponents from the same league will be allowed to meet. With all these variables, it is easy to see why it takes a computer to make the draw and why. The top eight in the league stage will qualify directly for the round of 16, while teams ranked ninth to 24th will compete in double play-offs to reach the next stage. From the round of 16 onwards, it remains the usual 29-match tennis draw until the final.

But will the new Champions League be more or less easy than the one we knew? According to the Uefa forecasts, to aim for the top and qualify directly for the round of 16 you will need to be around 21 points (a titanic feat that means winning almost all of them), while to play a playoff with the minimum of points should be enough to score just seven. And, for those of us watching from home, will the new tournament be more or less spectacular? This we will presumably find out after the kick-off, scheduled for 17 September. Certainly more teams and more matches mean more TV offerings for pay-TV. As many as 203 'televisionable' matches between Sky, Amazon Prime and Mediaset Infinity, compared to 125 in past editions. So: just to understand what the priorities of those who keep the football shack standing are.