How many games are played in the UEFA Champions League?

The number of games played in the UEFA Champions League depends on the competition format. UEFA recently changed the format starting with the 2024–25 season, so there are now two common answers depending on whether you mean the old format (through 2023–24) or the new “Swiss-style” league phase format (from 2024–25 onward).

1) Total matches in the Champions League (old format: through 2023–24)

• Group stage: 32 teams in 8 groups of 4, double round-robin
• Each group has 12 matches (6 matchdays × 2 matches per matchday)
• 8 groups × 12 matches = 96 group-stage matches

Knockout stage:

• Round of 16: 16 matches (2 legs × 8 ties) = 16
• Quarter-finals: 8 matches (2 legs × 4 ties) = 8
• Semi-finals: 4 matches (2 legs × 2 ties) = 4
• Final: 1 match = 1

Total (old format): 96 + 16 + 8 + 4 + 1 = 125 matches (not counting qualifying rounds).

Example: In the old format, a team that reached the final after playing the group stage would typically play:

• 6 group matches
• 2 (R16) + 2 (QF) + 2 (SF) + 1 (Final) = 7 knockout matches
• Total = 13 matches for finalists

2) Total matches in the Champions League (new format: from 2024–25 onward)

UEFA introduced a new structure with a 36-team league phase replacing the 32-team group stage.

• Each team plays 8 league-phase matches (4 home, 4 away) against 8 different opponents.
• Total league-phase matches = (36 teams × 8 matches) ÷ 2 = 144 matches

Then:

• Knockout phase play-offs: (teams ranked 9–24) = 16 teams = 8 ties over 2 legs → 16 matches
• Round of 16: 8 ties over 2 legs → 16 matches
• Quarter-finals: 4 ties over 2 legs → 8 matches
• Semi-finals: 2 ties over 2 legs → 4 matches
• Final: 1 match → 1 match

Total (new format): 144 + 16 + 16 + 8 + 4 + 1 = 189 matches (not counting qualifying rounds).

Example: Under the new format, a team finishing 9–24 and going all the way to win the competition could play:

• 8 league-phase matches
• 2 play-off matches
• 2 (R16) + 2 (QF) + 2 (SF) + 1 (Final) = 7
• Total = 17 matches

What are the current standings as of today?

I can’t reliably provide the current UEFA Champions League standings “as of today” in this chat because I don’t have live browsing enabled here, and standings change frequently based on matches played that day.

However, you can get the official, up-to-date standings immediately from these sources:

• UEFA official competition page (Standings / Tables):
  https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/
• UEFA match centre (fixtures/results that drive standings):
  https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/fixtures-results/

How to interpret “standings” depending on the season format

If it’s the old format (through 2023–24):

• Standings are shown by group (Groups A–H).
• Each group table ranks teams by points, then tiebreakers (head-to-head, goal difference, etc.).

If it’s the new format (from 2024–25 onward):

• Standings are a single league table of 36 teams.
• Key cutoffs:
  • Top 8 qualify directly to the Round of 16
  • 9th–24th go to the knockout play-offs
  • 25th–36th are eliminated from the competition

If you want, I can produce the exact current standings

If you paste either:

• a screenshot of the standings page, or
• the standings text/table from UEFA (or another source), or
• tell me the season (e.g., 2023–24 or 2025–26) and the matchday you mean,

…then I can format it cleanly in HTML, summarize key trends (e.g., “top 8,” qualification spots, teams at risk), and explain any tiebreak situations.

References

• UEFA Champions League official site: https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/
• UEFA format overview and competition regulations are typically linked from UEFA’s official pages and season documentation (varies by season), which explain the league phase and knockout structure.