Why UEFA Champions League Matches Are Being Played on Thursday: 2024/25 Format Changes Explained
The reason Champions League games are being played on Thursday this week is due to a new scheduling format introduced by UEFA.
This season, UEFA has allocated each of its three European competitions—the Champions League, Europa League, and Europa Conference League—an exclusive matchweek during which no games from the other two competitions will take place.
As a result, this week is designated solely for Champions League fixtures, allowing UEFA to spread the games across three days—Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
This is a one-off change, designed to provide more flexibility in the scheduling of matches, and it won’t be repeated in future rounds.
The Europa League and Europa Conference League will also have their own exclusive matchweeks later in the season.
This new system is part of a broader revamp of the Champions League format. Teams will now play eight group matches, four at home and four away, but against different teams instead of the traditional home-and-away format with the same opponents.
The competition has also shifted to a single-league structure, where teams compete to finish in the top eight for automatic qualification to the round of 16.
Those finishing between ninth and 24th will face a knockout round, while teams finishing 25th or lower will be eliminated without dropping to another tournament.
For this week, Arsenal’s match against Atalanta falls on Thursday as part of this expanded matchweek.
Why UEFA Champions League Matches Are Being Played on Thursday: 2024/25 Format Changes Explained
