Aston Villa found out today who their Champions League opponents will be for the upcoming competition.
The usual glitzy glamour over the top ceremony by Uefa saw Gianluca Buffon and Cristiano Ronaldo pick up awards before the draw.
It took place in the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo, Monaco and paired Villa with their eight opponents.
Unai Emery’s side will welcome German giants Bayern Munich, Italian powerhouse Juventus, Scottish Champions Celtic and Serie A side Bologna to Villa Park.
They will also face road trips to RB Leipzig, Club Brugge, Young Boys and Monaco.
The order in which the games will be played is yet to be decided with dates of the fixtures released on Saturday, August 31st.
The Champions League Format for this season
The pivotal change in the reforms announced by the UEFA Executive Committee is the departure from the current format’s group stage system. The present Champions League group stage includes 32 participants divided into eight groups of four. From the 2024/25 season, 36 clubs will participate in the Champions League league phase (former group stage), giving four more sides the opportunity to compete against the best clubs in Europe. Those 36 clubs will participate in a single league competition in which all 36 competing clubs are ranked together.
Under the new format, teams will play eight matches in the new league phase (former group stage). They will no longer play three opponents twice – home and away – but will instead face fixtures against eight different teams, playing half of those matches at home and half of them away. To determine the eight different opponents, the teams will initially be ranked in four seeding pots. Each team will then be drawn to play two opponents from each of these pots, playing one match against a team from each pot at home, and one away.
This gives the opportunity for clubs to test themselves against a wider range of opponents and raises the prospect for fans of seeing the top teams go head to head more often and earlier in the competition. It will also result in more competitive matches for every club across the board.
– Taken from Uefa.com
