Champions League draw: Start time, TV channel, how it works and teams for knockout play-offs today

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Evening Standard

·31 January 2025

Champions League draw: Start time, TV channel, how it works and teams for knockout play-offs today

Manchester City will face either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in blockbuster two-legged tie

The draw for the Champions League knockout play-offs takes place today, with Manchester City and Celtic both set for huge ties.

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Liverpool and Barcelona were already guaranteed a spot in the last 16 ahead of Wednesday night’s dramatic final round of league phase action, while nine clubs at the other end of the table knew they were eliminated.

However, for the rest of the 36 clubs in the revamped competition, the race was on to either secure a place in the top eight, and therefore go straight through to the last 16, or finish in the top 24 and with it take a spot in the knockout phase play-offs.

Manchester City beat Club Brugge 3-1 despite falling behind at home to tee up a huge two-legged knockout tie against either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich.

Arsenal finished in the top eight by beating Girona 2-1, while Aston Villa defeated Celtic 4-2 to join them. Celtic will also face one of Madrid or Bayern next.

Champions League play-off draw start time

The draw for the Champions League knockout phase play-offs will take place at 11am GMT today on Friday January 31, 2025.

How to watch Champions League play-off draw

TV channel: TNT Sports 2 will broadcast live coverage of the draw in the UK, beginning at 11am.

Live stream: The draw will be streamed live on the UEFA.com website, as well as on TNT Sports’ YouTube channel and via the Discovery+ app and website.

LIVE coverage: You can follow the draw with Standard Sport’s dedicated live blog.

How does the Champions League play-off draw work?

While the teams that finished in the top eight in the league phase go straight through to the last 16, those between ninth and 24th in the table face an extra play-off round.

Teams between ninth and 16th will be seeded and play their second leg at home, against the sides who finished the league phase in 17th to 24th.

There is also a pairing system in place. That means the ninth and 10th-placed teams will take on either the team that finished 23rd or 24th, with 11th and 12th up against the 21st or 22nd-placed side, and so on.

Clubs can face other teams from the same country, as well as sides that they played in the league phase.

Champions League play-off dates

The first legs will be played on either Tuesday February 11 or Wednesday February 12, with the reverse fixtures taking place a week later.

When is the Champions League last-16 draw?

The top eight from the league phase of the competition will face the eight winners of the knockout play-off ties in the last 16. The draw for the last 16 will take place on Friday February 21, 2025.

On paper at least, the higher you finish in the league phase, the easier your last-16 tie should be.

The teams finishing first or second will be handed a last-16 clash against the winners of the play-off tie between the 15th/16th and 17th/18th seeds.