The 70th season of the UEFA Champions League begins today with the first of eight matchdays in a new-look tournament.
The annual European premier club football tournament will pit 36 of the best club teams on the continent against each other, allowing fans even more opportunities than ever to see their team in action against other top-tier clubs.
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Of course, last year’s winners Real Madrid are back, along with the 2023-24 runners-up Borussia Dortmund and the 2022-23 champs Manchester City.
Below, we’ve broken down how to tune into every match of Matchday 1 with a schedule and a breakdown of how the new tournament style works.
How to watch and stream UEFA Champions League Matchday 1 for free:
The streaming home of the UEFA Champions League in the United States is Paramount+, so every match of every matchday will be streaming there.
Our favorite way to watch Paramount+ is with the Prime Video Channels add-on, available to all Prime Video subscribers.
With Prime Video Channels, Amazon Prime subscribers can add streaming subscriptions to Prime Video, combining multiple services into one convenient app.
It costs the same as it would to subscribe directly, too; $7.99/month with ads and $12.99/month without ads. There’s also an included seven-day free trial.
You’ll, of course, have to be an Amazon Prime subscriber with Prime Video to add Paramount+ on, but if you aren’t, no worries; there’s a 30-day free trial for that, too.
UEFA Champions League Matchday 1 schedule:
Each day of UCL Matchday 1 features six matches; two begin at 12:45 p.m. ET, while the other four kick off at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Tuesday, September 17
- Juventus vs. PSV, 12:45 p.m. ET
- Young Boys vs. Aston Villa, 12:45 p.m. ET
- Bayern München vs. GNK Dinamo, 3:00 p.m. ET
- AC Milan vs. Liverpool, 3:00 p.m. ET
- Real Madrid vs. Stuttgart, 3:00 p.m. ET
- Sporting CP vs. Lille, 3:00 p.m. ET
Wednesday, September 18
- Bologna vs. Shakhtar, 12:45 p.m. ET
- Sparta Praha vs. Salzburg, 12:45 p.m. ET
- Club Brugge vs. Borussia Dortmund, 3:00 p.m. ET
- Celtic vs. ŠK Slovan Bratislava, 3:00 p.m. ET
- Man City vs. Inter Mila, 3:00 p.m. ET
- Paris vs. Girona, 3:00 p.m. ET
Thursday, September 19
- Crvena Zvezda vs. Benfica, 12:45 p.m. ET
- Feyenoord vs. Leverkusen, 12:45 p.m. ET
- Atalanta vs. Arsenal, 3:00 p.m. ET
- Atleta vs. Leipzig, 3:00 p.m. ET
- Monaco vs. Barcelona, 3:00 p.m. ET
- Brest vs. Sturm Graz, 3:00 p.m. ET
UEFA Champions League new format explained:
2024-25 is the first year UCL will use a “Swiss” system that, among other changes, replaces the group stage with a league phase.
Previous UCL tournaments began with a group stage where 32 teams were divided into eight groups of four, similar to the group stage used during this summer’s Euro. From there, each team would play each opponent in their group twice — home and away — before advancing to a knockout stage.
In this new format of play, the league phase has expanded into 36 teams, and rather than seeding and organizing the teams into groups, each team will play eight different teams, half at home and half away. The teams are organized into a single league competition with all 36 teams ranked together.
The scoring hasn’t changed, though; winners will get three points while clubs that finish in a draw get one point each.
This is, in part, to give clubs and opportunity to test themselves against a wider range of opponents. It also provides fans more opportunities to see top teams go head-to-head more often and earlier in the tournament.
From there, the top eight clubs across the board will automatically move into the Round of 16, while the teams that finish 9th through 24th will compete in a knock-out style playoff to qualify.
Beyond the UCL, this new format will also be used in Europa League and UEFA Conference League matches.
When is the next UEFA Champions League matchday?
UCL Matchday 2 will take place on Tuesday, October 1 and Wednesday, October 2.
Which clubs qualified for the 2024 UEFA Champions League?
- Arsenal (Premier League)
- Aston Villa (Premier League)
- Atalanta (Serie A)
- Atlético Madrid (La Liga)
- Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga)
- Barcelona (La Liga)
- Bayern München (Bundesliga)
- Benfica (Liga Portugal)
- Bologna (Serie A)
- Brest (Ligue 1)
- Celtic (Scottish Premiership)
- Club Brugge (Belgian Pro League)
- Crvena Zvezda (Serbian SuperLiga)
- Feyenoord (Eredivisie)
- Girona (La Liga)
- GNK Dinamo (Croatian Football League)
- Inter Milan (Serie A)
- Juventus (Serie A)
- Leipzig (Bundesliga)
- Leverkusen (Bundesliga)
- Lille (Ligue 1)
- Liverpool (Premier League)
- Manchester City (Premier League)
- AC Milan (Serie A)
- Monaco (Ligue 1)
- Paris Saint-Germain (Ligue 1)
- PSV Eindhoven (Eredivisie)
- Real Madrid (La Liga)
- Slovan Bratislava (Slovak Super Liga)
- Salzburg (Austrian Bundesliga)
- Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukrainian Premier League)
- Sparta Praha (Czech First League)
- Sporting CP (Liga Portugal)
- Sturm Graz (Austrian Bundesliga)
- Stuttgart (Bundesliga)
- Young Boys (Swiss Super League)
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