The procedure of the reimagined Champions League’s draw is happening in Monaco this Thursday and it will occur from 5pm as per Irish Timezone. As per this revolutionary design, here’s what to look forward to.
First, let’s go through the changes. The old framework, where we had a group stage with eight pools of four teams each, has undergone substantial changes. Booking its place is a phase with 36 teams instead of the former 32. Each team now will participate in eight matches rather than six – this includes four matches on their home ground and four away – competing against two opponents from each of the four seeding groups.
The best-performing eight teams will gain automatic entry to the last 16 – with further details on that to be shared soon. Monitoring the teams from the 9th to 24th position, they must compete in the newly established knock-out phase playoffs to earn one of the remaining eight places in the last 16 round. Teams that finish in 25th place or below will no longer be part of the tournament- they no longer move on to the Europa League.
A mirrored format is introduced in the Europa League, whilst the Conference league will be structured in a similar way, the only distinction being the initial matches dropping from eight to six.
So, what makes this a step up? UEFA has faith in this format. They believe it encourages more exciting play as bigger teams will compete against each other earlier than before. The standing of a team in the league will have an influence on their journey in the knock-out phase, which amplifies the importance of each match, even if they’ve already qualified.
Moreover, the extra matches allow clubs to earn more on match days, especially if they reach the playoffs of the knock-out phase. The expectation is that this refreshing format wins over clubs and supporters, while fending off any resurgence of the European Super League.
So how exactly does the draw function? This will be clarified soon.
Uefa has decided to switch to a hybrid system for their draw process. Rather than the teams being randomly drawn manually, this portion will now be handled digitally, each team taking just over a second to be assigned. The remainder of the 36 teams will continue to be drawn manually from the four seeding pots in descending order. The implemented technology will still follow original protocols, such as preventing teams from the same country from playing against each other until the playoff stage of the knock-out phase. It also limits teams to facing a maximum of two opponents from the same country in the league phase.
Despite the change to a hybrid draw, Uefa predicts the time taken will remain consistent at around 35 minutes. They believe performing a completely manual draw with the new format could extend beyond three hours.
The Champions League draw is scheduled for 5pm UK time on Thursday with specific match timings to be revealed by Saturday. The Europa League and Conference League draws will follow on Friday.
Uefa has also revised the knockout phase which now adopts a tennis-styled structure. Teams who rank first and second in the league will be separated until the final, the same applies for third and fourth, fifth and sixth, seventh and eighth. Every point thus becomes crucial, even for teams who are certain of placing within the top eight.
Another new introduction is the awarding of European Performance Spots (EPS) to two teams. Reserved for teams from the two best performing countries in the previous season’s Uefa competitions, these spots are given to the teams that nearly qualified for the Champions League through the standard route. For this season, owing to their impressive performance last season, Italy and Germany were awarded the EPS, which went to Bologna and Borussia Dortmund, respectively.
Lastly, each of the three Uefa men’s club competitions will now have one exclusive week where no matches from the other two competitions will be played.
The inaugural matches of the Champions League are set to kick off on 17th, 18th and 19th of September, marking an exclusive week for fans. The first round of the Europa League, on the other hand, is scheduled to commence on September 25 and 26. The last league phase games of the Conference League will be on December 19, comprising its exclusive week. This season, significant changes in the financial distribution are expected, with the league phase of the Champions League set to distribute £2.06 billion (€2.437b), a notable increase from the previous £170 billion (€2.002b) in the 2023-24 season. Moreover, this new figure will be split amongst 36 clubs, up from the previous 32.