USMNT players in the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League
It’s a different scenario for everybody involved in the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League league phase, with the tournament switching from the group stage to the league stage. The new league stage now runs to the end of January, with eight games for each team on the schedule. The top eight in the single league table advance, with 9th through 24th entering a playoff to get to the knockout round. With that in mind, here are the teams with USMNT players as we wait for the start of the Champions League league phase on September 17.
Gio Reyna’s Borussia Dortmund is the only team with a USMNT player in the top eight seeded teams. Seeding matters even in the new league setup, since it determines the eight-game schedule in a league that has 36 teams. There are additional constraints on the scheduling, with UEFA not allowing teams from the same domestic league to play each other in this stage or any team to play more than two teams from another domestic league. That last one comes into play for Dortmund, who were drawn against Barcelona and Real Madrid along with Shakhtar Donetsk, Club Brugge, Celtic, Dinamo Zagreb, Sturm Graz, and Bologna.
Tim Weah and Weston McKennie’s Juventus is in the second group and will play Manchester City, RB Leipzig, Benfica, Club Brugge, PSV, Lille, Stuttgart, and Aston Villa.
Yunus Musah and Christian Pulisic’s AC Milan were also in the second pot of the draw, and will play Liverpool, Real Madrid, Club Brugge, Bayer Leverkusen, Red Star Belgrade, Girona, and Slocan Bratislava.
In the third group of the draw, Richy Ledezma, Malik Tillman, Ricardo Pepi, and Sergino Dest’s PSV plays Liverpool, PSG, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, Sporting, Red Star Belgrade, Girona, and Brest.
Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty’s Celtic were also in pot three, playing RB Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund, Club Brugge, Atalanta, Berner, Dinamo Zagreb, Slovan Bratislava, and Aston Villa.
Folarin Balogun’s AS Monaco was in pot 4 and will play Barcelona, Inter Milan, Benfica, Arsenal, Red Star Belgrade, Dinamo Zagreb, Aston Villa, and Bologna.
Moving to the Europa League, Timmy Chandler’s Eintracht was in pot one and plays Slavia Prague, Roma, Ferencvaros, Lyon, Viktoria Plzen, Midtjylland, RFS, and Besiktas.
Tanner Tessmann’s transfer window move to Lyon adds another USMNT player to the Europa League. Lyon, also drawn into pot 2, plays Eintracht, Olympiacos, Fenerbahce, Ludogorets, Qarabag, Beskitas, and Hoffenheim.
For the UEFA Conference League, Johnny Cardoso’s Real Betis advanced to the league phase and were seeded in pot 1. They play Copenhagen, Legia Warsaw, HJK, Mlada Boleslav, Petrocub Hincesti, and Celje.
Lenny Maloney’s Heidenheim was in pot 2 of the draw and will play Chelsea, Basaksehir, Ljubljana, Hearts, St Gallen, and Pafos.
Matthew Olosunde’s The New Saints from pot 4 will play Fiorentina, Djurgardens, Astana, Shamrock Rovers, Panathinaikos, and Celje.
