Format & Rules
The 36-Club League Phase: How the New Format Works
The group stage is gone. Thirty-six clubs now share one table and play eight matches against eight different opponents, four at home and four away.
CoreFormat & Rules
The permanent rule set of the Champions League: the 36-club league phase, the eight-match table, the tie-breaks, the knockout playoffs and the two-legged tie.
Format & Rules
How the Eight-Match Champions League Table Is Read
The league-phase table looks like any domestic table, but its column headings decide a whole season. Points come first, then the tie-breaks, and position decides the bracket.
Core
Format & Rules
Champions League Tie-Breaks: How Clubs Are Separated
When clubs finish level on points in the league phase, a fixed sequence of criteria separates them. The order is published in advance so the final table never depends on opinion.
Intermediate
Format & Rules
Knockout Playoffs: Who Plays Ninth to Twenty-Fourth
A new round sits between the league phase and the round of 16. The clubs placed ninth to twenty-fourth play a two-legged tie, and the eight winners complete the last 16.
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Format & Rules
The Round of 16: The Draw, Seeding and the Bracket
The round of 16 sets the path to the final. Seedings decide who meets whom, and the bracket decides where a club can be stopped on the way.
Core
Format & Rules
Two-Legged Ties Versus the One-Match Champions Final
Almost every round is decided over two legs, where the aggregate score rules. The final alone is a single match, and that one difference reshapes how a tie is played.
Intermediate
Format & Rules
How Extra Time and Penalties Decide a Knockout Tie
Most ties end in normal time, but when the aggregate is level a second route opens: extra time, then penalties. Both stages have their own conditions and their own arithmetic.
Intermediate
Format & Rules
The Away Goals Rule and Why It Was Abolished in Europe
For decades a goal scored away from home counted double when a tie was level. The rule is gone, and its removal changed how the second leg of a tie is played.
Intermediate
Format & Rules
List A, List B and the Home-Grown Player Quota Rules
A club's European squad is not chosen freely. List A holds 25 players with a home-grown quota; List B holds young players who can be added without using a place.
Intermediate
Format & Rules
Player Registration Windows in the Champions League
A club cannot register new players at will. The competition allows squad changes in defined windows, and a player who arrives outside them must wait to be added.
Core