The draw for this season’s Champions League phase has given us matches against Internazionale, Paris Saint-Germain, Atalanta, Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb, Sporting Lisbon, Monaco and Girona.

The new 36-team format means we will no longer be playing all of these opponents home and away. As such, we will be hosting PSG, Shakhtar, Zagreb and Monaco at the Emirates Stadium, while we will soon be playing games against Milan, Atalanta, Lisbon and Girona.

The exact order of matches, dates and kick-off times will be announced on Saturday.

What we do know is that the competition starts in September and runs until January 2025, with the following match weeks:

Matchday 1: September 17-19, 2024
Matchday 2: October 1/2, 2024
Matchday 3: October 22/23, 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: January 29, 2025

How the new format works

After the expansion of the competition to 36 teams, instead of a traditional group stage, all teams will compete in a single table. Clubs will play eight matches against eight different teams, divided equally between home and away matches.

The top eight teams in the competition automatically qualify for the round of 16. Teams finishing 25th or lower are eliminated from all European competitions.

The teams finishing between 9th and 24th will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure their place in the Champions League last 16. The teams finishing between 9th and 16th will be seeded and will play one of the teams finishing between 17th and 24th, with the second leg played on the seeded team’s home ground.

The eight play-off winners will then face one of the top eight in the round of 16. The competition will then return to the traditional two-match knockout format, albeit with a fixed bracket. This means clubs can plot their potential path to the final.