The main qualifying round of the most prestigious club tournament in Europe starts today
Formally, the tournament started on June 21, when the matches of the preliminary qualifying round were played. But the first main qualifying stage will start on July 5, when the first eight matches will be played. On Wednesday, July 6, there will be seven more round fights. Moreover, only the champions of their countries play in the first round of selection. Teams following the path of the League representatives will start from the second round of qualification.
Format
The current draw of the tournament is the penultimate one, which will be held in the usual format: in the 2024/2025 season, the teams will compete according to the Swiss system. 79 teams from 54 UEFA member countries will take part in this Champions League. Traditionally, the representatives of Liechtenstein will not play in the tournament, the teams from Russia will miss the first Champions League because of the war unleashed by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. 32 teams will enter the group stage of the tournament.
Prize money
There is no official information on payments to clubs this season yet. Therefore, we focus on the data of last season, according to which the total prize fund of the Champions League was 2.032 billion euros.
Any team that qualified for the group stage of the tournament received €15.64 million. The victory in the group was estimated at 2.8 million euros, a draw – at 930 thousand euros.
Reaching the 1/8 finals of the tournament brought the team 9.6 million euros, getting into the quarterfinals – 10.6 million. The semi-finalist of the tournament earned an additional 12.5 million, the finalist – 15.5 million. The winner of the Champions League received 20 million euros in prize money.
In addition, UEFA pays bonuses to clubs for their place in the club rankings, as well as for the value of the television market.
Our
Ukraine in the current Champions League will be represented by two clubs – Shakhtar and Dynamo. The Pitmen, who finished the unfinished season in first place, will start immediately from the group stage and will recognize their rivals at the end of August.
Dynamo, which remains in second place, follows the path of the league representatives and will start its tournament path from the second qualifying round, where it will play against Fenerbahce. The first match of the stage will be held by the white-blues on July 20 in Lodz, Poland – it will be a home match for the Kiev team. The second match will take place on July 27 in Istanbul.
See also: Match Dynamo – Fenerbahce will be judged by Swede Nyberg
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According to the bookmakers, Manchester City have the greatest chances of winning the tournament. Bets on winning the trophy by Guardiola’s team are accepted at the rate of 1×4. Next comes Liverpool, whose victory in the tournament comes with a factor of 1×5. In third place and, admittedly, rather unexpectedly – PSG, with a coefficient of 1×6.
But analysts do not believe in Bavaria. Bets that the Munich club will win the trophy are accepted at the rate of 1×8. But the quotes for the victory of Real look much stranger – 1×15. On the other hand, the current owner of the trophy is no stranger to disbelief on the part of specialists. Anyway, even Chelsea’s chances of winning are assessed above – 1×13.
Source: Sportarena
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
