The 2024-25 Champions League will be unique for football fans around Europe. The competition faces a new format, adding an extra sense of unpredictability to Champions League betting after moving away from the traditional group stage structure that Real Madrid has dominated throughout the last decade.
Los Blancos won their 15th Champions League title, extending their record for the most championships, when they beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Wembley. Goals from Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior ensured Carlo Ancelotti became the most successful manager in the competition’s history, and Madrid bowed out of the old format with two victories in the last three seasons.
The new format aims to offer a greater variety of matches and opponents, potentially increasing the competition level and excitement for fans, featuring the Swiss-style format.
The Champions League will now feature a single league phase with 36 teams, where each team plays eight matches against different opponents. The top eight teams will advance directly to the Round of 16, while teams ranked 9th to 24th will enter playoffs for the remaining spots.
This new format will be a big change, but could anyone challenge Madrid to spoil their hopes of retaining the title?
In this article, we take a look at the early favourites to win the 2024-25 Champions League, assessing why each team could lift the famous big-eared trophy.
Manchester City
This season could be the last time we see Pep Guardiola in charge of Manchester City, and while Premier League fans will be breathing a sigh of relief, the Spaniard will want to sign off from his time at the Etihad Stadium by delivering a second Champions League trophy.
Despite a shaky start to the previous campaign, City still won their fourth consecutive league title, and after beating Inter Milan in the 2023 final, they have an experienced squad that knows how to get over the line in Europe as well.
Madrid painstakingly beat City in the previous season’s competition, but if they secure some of their summer signings, including Dani Olmo of RB Leipzig, they will be a force to be reckoned with.
Bayer Leverkusen
While Bayern Munich are often perennially contenders for the Champions League, German football was dominated by Bayer Leverkusen last season, who won the Bundesliga for the first time and unbeaten under former Bavarian Xabi Alonso.
Leverkusen were unable to do the treble after losing to Atalanta in the Europa League final, but with key players and Alonso himself committing their future to the BayArena next season, it will be great to see a side that many expected to be torn apart, stick together.
Looking back at some of the great sides like Monaco, Ajax, and Dortmund in years gone by, often Europe’s best come in and sign the key components, but with Leverkusen, they look to be the real deal and could cause some headaches to the traditional top sides in the tournament.
Real Madrid
The clear favourites for the Champions League are always going to be Real Madrid. The defending champions already assembled one of the strongest squads in Europe but added extra firepower in the form of Kylian Mbappe, who arrives from Paris Saint-Germain after years of anticipation.
Madrid will lose Toni Kroos this summer, though. The German is retiring from football after a decade of service at the Santiago Bernabéu, and with Luka Modric approaching the twilight of his career, it will be interesting to see how Ancelotti sets up with his new-look midfield, comprised of French duo Eduardo Camavinga and Aurélien Tchouaméni.
Jude Bellingham and Vini Jr. will also be key if Madrid look to win back-to-back Champions League titles and ensure a 16th Champions League trophy returns to the capital of Spain.
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