Why are Arsenal playing a Champions League game on Thursday night?

In partnership with

Evening Standard

·19 septembre 2024

Why are Arsenal playing a Champions League game on Thursday night?

Gunners travel to Europa League winners Atalanta

Arsenal begin their Champions League campaign away at Atalanta.

Vidéos OneFootball

The Gunners made significant progress in Europe’s elite club competition last season, reaching their first quarter-final since 2010.

Mikel Arteta’s side eventually saw their dream ended by Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich, though it was still further than the club had managed in years.

Arsenal have been dealt some difficult fixtures in the new-look format. After travelling to the Europa League winners, they will host Paris Saint-Germain and Shakhtar Donetsk before tough away games at Inter and Sporting CP.

Home tests against Monaco and Dinamo Zagreb follow that before finishing their campaign away at Girona.

It all begins, however, with a rather unusual Thursday night kick-off.

Why are Arsenal playing a Champions League game on a Thursday night?

The Gunners will become the first English team to ever play in the Champions League on a Thursday.

While the majority of the games in Europe’s elite club competition will still be played on the traditional Tuesday and Wednesday nights, the first gameweek of the campaign has been marked as a “Champions League exclusive” week.

It means there will be no Europa League or Conference League games, extending the days on which the Champions League is played.