Everything you need to know about Aston Villa’s Champions League campaign for the 2024/25 season including, how the new format works, when the draw dates are and more.
After a highly successful 2023/24 campaign, Unai Emery’s side have now reaped their rewards. The Birmingham side’s fourth-place position in the Premier League earned the club Champions League for the new season.
It has been a remarkable turnaround for a side that fighting relegation under Steven Gerrard just two years ago.
Now, Villa Park will once again be hosting Europe’s most prestigious competition after they tasted victory in 1982.
In this article, Aston Villa News will guide you through everything you need to know about Villa’s upcoming Champions League run.
When is the Champions League draw for Aston Villa?
The league phase draw will be on Thursday, August 29 and begin at 5pm UK time. Supporters can watch the draw live on UEFA.com as well as the TNT Sports YouTube channel. The draw will also be broadcast live on TNT Sports for subscribers.
Following this, the play-off knockout stage draw is on January 31 and the round of 16 on February 21.
How does the new Champions League system work?
For the 2024/25 campaign, all of UEFA’s continental competitions will take place in a brand-new format.
Instead of the group stages, the Champions League will have a league table. In this system, Villa will have to play eight matches in the 32-team league.
These fixtures will be decided by four seeded pots, with Villa set to play two sides from each section. Each club will play one match against a team in one pot both home and away.
To qualify for the next round, Villa will need to finish in the top 24. Teams who finish in the top eight will automatically qualify for the Champions League last 16. However, if a side ends up between ninth and 24th place, they will have to compete in a play-off game to qualify for the next round. Anyone below this position will be eliminated from all European competitions that season.
Following this, the rest of the tournament is a traditional knock-out competition, as seen in the previous edition of the Champions League
Who could Aston Villa face in the Champions League?
For the draw, the teams have been divided into four pots of nine clubs based on their coefficient ranking. Villa will be in pot four due to their lack of European adventures in recent seasons.
For the league phase, Villa cannot face another English side and can only be drawn against at most, two teams from the same nation. Below are the pots so far.
Pot 1
- Real Madrid
- Manchester City
- Bayern Munich
- PSG
- Liverpool
- Inter Milan
- Borussia Dortmund
- RB Leipzig
- Barcelona
Pot 2
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Atletico Madrid
- Atalanta
- Juventus
- Benfica
- Arsenal
- Club Brugge
- Shaktar Donetsk
- AC Milan
Pot 3
- Feyenoord
- Sporting Lisbon
- PSV
- Celtic
- Young Boys
- Red Bull Salzburg
- Lille or Slavia Prague
- Dinamo Zagreb or Qarabag
Pot 4
- Monaco
- Aston VIlla
- Bologna
- Girona
- Stuttgart
- Sturm Graz
- Brest
Pot to be decided
- Midtjylland or Slovan Bratislava
- Bodo/Glimt or Red Star Belgrade
When does the Champions League start for Aston Villa?
The matchday dates for the league phase can be found below.
Matchday 1: 17–19 September 2024
Matchday 2: 1/2 October 2024
Matchday 3: 22/23 October 2024
Matchday 4: 5/6 November 2024
Matchday 5: 26/27 November 2024
Matchday 6: 10/11 December 2024
Matchday 7: 21/22 January 2025
Matchday 8: 29 January 2025
Read more: Where are Villa’s 1982 European Cup winners now?
Where is the Champions League final being held?
If Villa managed to progress all the way to the Champions League final, as they did in 1982, they would travel to Germany to play at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena.
The final will take place on May 31, 2025.
