The UEFA Champions League has been a lot of fun in its new format in 2024-25 and we are about to enter the newly-formatted knockout rounds.
MORE — Champions League schedule | League phase table
The top-eight teams from the league phase earned a bye to the last 16 as seeded teams, but what happens to the other 16 teams who are in the knockout round play-offs?
Everything is explained below.
Which teams qualify for the UEFA Champions League knockout round play-offs? How does it work?
The teams who finished 9th to 16th in the League Phase will be seeded, while the teams who finished 17th to 24th will be unseeded.
There are eight play-off games, with the following seeding system used:
Play-off 1: Brest v Paris Saint-Germain
Play-off 2: Club Brugge v Atalanta
Play-off 3: Manchester City v Real Madrid
Play-off 4: Juventus v PSV Eindhoven
Play-off 5: Feyenoord v AC Milan
Play-off 6: Celtic v Bayern Munich
Play-off 7: Sporting Lisbon v Borussia Dortmund
Play-off 8: Monaco v Benfica
Seeded teams will host the second of two legs against the unseeded teams.
The eight winners will advance and become the unseeded teams in the last 16, where the eight teams who finished in the top eight of the League Phase will become the seeded teams.
When is the UEFA Champions League knockout round play-off draw?
The draw takes place at 6am ET on Friday, January 31 at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
First legs of the play-off round will take place on February 11/12, with the second legs on February 18/19.
