The UEFA Champions League is the most prestigious European football club tournament. From the first edition in the season 1955/56 until the season 1991/92 it was called the European Champion Clubs’ Cup. It was given the current name in the season 1992/93. The format was changed the same year, with the play-off system being rebuilt.
However, the 2023/24 round was the penultimate round under the current rules. From the 2024/25 season, the Champions League will switch to the Swiss system and the number of teams in the main draw will increase from 24 to 36.
📆 Dates |
✅ 9 July 2024 — 31 May 2025 |
🌏 Teams (total) |
✅ 36 (81) |
🏁 Final |
✅ 31st of May 2025 |
🏟 Final Host |
✅ Allianz Arena, Munich |
🏆 Current champion |
✅ Real Madrid |
The Champions League participants in the season 2024/2025
The matches are played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays as a rule. The season 2024/25 will contain over 81 clubs from 53 UEFA associations:
-
Associations 1-5 each have 4 teams.
-
Association 6 has 3 teams.
-
Associations 7-15 each have 2 teams.
-
Associations 16-55 (except Liechtenstein) each have 1 club.
-
Russian clubs are banned from participation in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League.
The most prestigious European tournament has three stages, namely qualification, group stage and play-offs. The winner of the 2024/2025 season will gain a place in the Champions League group stage regardless of the position they will take in their domestic championship.
According to Legalbet, the Champions League betting is one of the most popular football gambling for the bookmakers’ customers. British
betting sites create special offers for their clients and offer many types of bets on Champions League outright odds: winner, top scorer, or final.
Champions League winner odds
Manchester City were the favourites to win the tournament 24/25 ahead of the tournament. Man City to win Champions League odds — 9. Next comes the current winner of the tournament Real Madrid with odds of 7. The third place was occupied by Arsenal, who have improved considerably of late — you could have bet on their triumph at odds of 9/1.
Who will win Champions League: winner odds
| Team |
Odds to win Champions League 2024/25 |
🏴 Liverpool (England) |
4/1
|
🇪🇸 Barselona (Spain) |
6/1
|
🏴 Arsenal (England) |
6/1
|
🇩🇪 Bayern Munich (Germany) |
8/1
|
🇪🇸 Real Madrid (Spain) |
7/1
|
🏴 Manchester City (England)
|
9/1
|
🇫🇷 PSG (France) |
12/1
|
Champions League betting odds: What you need to know
High limits and odds are usual for betting on Champions League. There are some other peculiarities, though.
Favourites win, but not always
Favourites win most of the matches they play. For example, 123 games were played in the group stage and play-offs in the 2020/2021 season. 80 matches were won by favourites, with only 18 being won by outsiders. The remaining games ended in draws.
However, the champions, Real Madrid, were underdogs in all of the play-offs stages, including the final.
The most successful club in Champions League history is
Real Madrid (15). Five of them were won in the last 8 years. For example, AC Milan, the second in a row of the most successful clubs, have only 7 titles.
The schedule is decisive
Due to many matches to be played over the course of a season, it’s very important how teams are prepared physically. An important game of the domestic league can be followed by a Champions League match in three days. The schedule is a decisive factor in such a case.
High odds for the Champions League
There may be a huge difference in skills and finances between the teams that play in the Champions League. The biggest sides meet some small European clubs on a regular basis in the group stage.
The betting odds on outsiders to win are very high at this stage. Inertia remains sometimes, with bookmakers setting a team as an obvious favourite even in a match of pretty equal teams.
Betting sites also offer high odds for the Champions League as a bonus. 0% margin are offered, as rule, for the matches of the most popular teams.
You can hardly predict a winner of the tournament
Who will win the Champions League? Despite the high odds on the winners of the Champions League, many experienced bettors prefer to avoid such betting.
First, several clubs are the favourites, around 5-8 sides each year. Second, the form of the teams may be different in the group stage and in the play-offs. Third, the decisive Champions League play-offs games are often surprising.
The teams from the top 5 European leagues have been dominating the Champions in the 21st century, from England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. The last time a club from another country managed to win the Champions League was in the 2003/04 season. It was FC Porto from Portugal.
Teams score many goals
An average number of the goals scored in the Champions League are almost the same as in the leagues with the most number of goals scored on average, namely the German Bundesliga and the Dutch Eredivisie. The different level of the sides in the group stage and high motivation are the decisive factors. An average total has almost reached 3 in the last seasons.
Season |
Average total |
2023/24 |
3,00 |
2022/23 |
2,98 |
2021/22 |
2,87 |
2020/21 |
2,89 |
2019/20 |
2,98 |
On this page you can find the schedule, results and find out the best odds for the Champions League games. On the page of each game we offer the latest news and statistics of the teams in the previous matches. Tipsters of Legalbet regularly provide free Champions League betting tips.
