Champions League, Europa League and Conference League league phase draws: All you need to know about the European Club Football Season Kick-off in Monaco

The inaugural league phase draws for the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League are almost upon us.

UEFA.com runs through what to expect from the European Club Football Season Kick-off in Monaco.

When and where are the draws?

The league phase draw for the Champions League will take place from 18:00 CET on Thursday 29 August at the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco. The Europa League and Conference League draws will be held the following day, Friday 30 August, at the same venue. The Europa League draw will get under way at 13:00 CET and the Conference League draw at 14:30 CET.

Where can I watch the draws?

All the draws will be streamed live on UEFA.com.

How does the new format work?

The biggest change to all three competitions is to the group stage, which will become a single 36-team league phase. In the Champions League and Europa League, each side faces eight different teams (four at home, four away); in the Conference League each club faces six different teams (three at home, three away).

In all three competitions, the top eight overall advance directly to the round of 16; sides finishing from ninth to 24th will contest the knockout phase play-offs, with the victors going through to the last 16. From then on it is a straight knockout.

Teams that finish 25th or lower in the league phase of all three competitions will be eliminated from Europe, with no access to other tournaments.

How will the draws work?

In the Champions League and Europa League, teams will be seeded in four pots based on their individual club coefficient at the beginning of the season, the only exception being that the Champions League title holders will be top seed in pot 1 regardless of coefficient.

Each team will then be drawn against two opponents from each pot, one of which they will play at home and one away. In the Conference League, teams will be seeded in six pots, with each team facing six opponents, one from each of the pots.

In the league phase teams cannot face opponents from their own country and can be drawn against a maximum of two sides from the same country.

In each competition, all 36 teams will be manually drawn using physical balls. For every team manually drawn, a designated automated software will randomly draw their opponents, who will be revealed on screen in the draw hall and on television. The software will also decide which matches will be at home and which ones away.

The draw will start with Pot 1, assigning opponents to all teams, one after the other, and will continue with the other pots in descending order until all teams have been assigned their opponents.

What happens after the draw?

Even though the teams will know all their opponents by the end of the draw, the fixture list with match dates and kick-off times will be elaborated afterwards and announced on Saturday 31 August, to ensure no calendar clashes across the competitions.

What else will happen during the draw ceremonies?

The 2024 UEFA President's Award will be presented to former Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon by UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin during the Champions League draw ceremony.

Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, the all-time leading goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League, will be honoured with a special award from UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin in recognition of his remarkable legacy in the world’s most prestigious competition.