Page 75 - Soccer360 Issue 107

2024/25
KEY DATES
LEAGUE PHASE
Draw Date
August 30
Matchday 1
October 3
Matchday 2
October 24
Matchday 3
November 7
Matchday 4
November 28
Matchday 5
December 12
Matchday 6
December 19
Play offs Draw December 20
Play offs
February 13 & February 20
Draw Date for Remaining Rounds February 21
Round of 16
March 6 & March 13
Quarter Finals
April 10 & April 17
Semi-Finals
May 1 & May 8
Final
May 28, 2025
KNOCKOUT
ROUNDS
DID YOU KNOW?
Chelsea are
the only club
to have won
all three major European competitions twice. They
are the only London club
to have won the Champions League and the Club World Cup.
One club that will be hoping for a better end to the campaign this season will
be Fiorentina. La Viola have lost the last two Conference League finals and have qualified, once again, thanks to a good showing in Serie A. They are one of just five clubs who automatically start at the play-off round this season. The
rest of the eventual league phase will consist of Europa League dropouts and smaller clubs who have battled through the labyrinth of preliminary and qualifying rounds to get to that point. That automatically makes Fiorentina one of the favourites to potentially make it third time lucky but the team to beat surely has
to be Chelsea. Champions League winners just
three years ago,
the wealthy
English Premier
League side
would seem
to be the big fish in a small pond here - and that could be the case even after the introduction of the Europa League losers.
Both the Europa League and Conference Leagues have won a lot of converts in recent years, as the standard has risen with the inclusion of some of the continent’s most storied clubs. Whether that interest can be kept without the bigger clubs dropping down into the competitions remains to be seen but Atalanta’s incredible victory over Bayer Leverkusen in last season’s Europa League final is a perfect example of how the games can be just as dramatic as those in the more prestigious Champions League.
A new format is always intriguing and
time will tell in regards to whether the changes will be seen as a success, but it
is hard to argue that they aren’t designed to help the chances of the bigger clubs - as well as generate even more income. It would therefore not be a surprise to see teams who already have a history of lifting European trophies once again getting their names engraved next May.
SOCCER360 73
ABOVE:
Chelsea will
be lending the Conference League some real Champions League pedigree this season
LEFT:
Cole Palmer of Chelsea