The most important questions and answers ahead of the draws for the Champions League (Thursday), Europa League and Conference League (Friday).
When are the draws and where can the draws be seen?
blue Zoom broadcasts the draws live on free-to-air TV. The Champions League draw will take place on Thursday at 18:00 in Monaco. The Europa League draw will follow on Friday from 13:00 and the Conferecne League draw from 14:30.
How will the format change?
The most important change is the elimination of the group stages with the groups of four. There is now a league phase in which a single table is decisive for advancing to the knockout round. The top eight teams go straight through to the round of 16, the next 16 play in the round of 16 beforehand and the last twelve are eliminated from the European Cup. There will no longer be a relegation to a lower European Cup, as was previously the case.
How many teams are in the league phase?
36 teams, four more than before, will contest the respective league phases. In the Champions League, 29 teams qualified directly, including two new teams that benefited from an additional place thanks to their country's European Cup performance in the previous season (Dortmund and Bologna in fifth place in their league). Over the entire season, the number of matches in the Champions League will increase from 125 to 189.
How are the matches played?
In the league phase of the Champions League and Europa League, each participant plays eight matches, four at home and four away. In the Conference League, there are six match days and therefore three home and three away games. The eight or six different opponents are drawn by lot.
How the new Champions League mode works
- 36 teams are part of the new Champions League mode.
- In a so-called league phase, consisting of eight matches per team, all 36 clubs are listed in a table.
- The eight matches in the league phase are played against different opponents. The teams are divided into pots beforehand. Each team has to play against two teams per pot.
- The top 8 teams from the league phase advance to the round of 16.
- The remaining places in the round of 16 are awarded in knockout playoffs. A team ranked 9th to 16th will face a team ranked 17th to 24th, with a first and second leg deciding who progresses.
- The losers of the knockout playoffs and clubs ranked 25 to 36 are eliminated from the Champions League. There is no ticket for the Europa League.
- From the round of 16 onwards, the familiar tournament format is used. First and second legs between two teams up to and including the semi-finals. The Champions League winner is crowned in a final match.
How is the draw made?
The classic draw with the lottery balls is no longer possible with the new mode. Over 900 balls and 36 pots would be required. That's why software takes over the difficult part of the draw. The teams drawn are assigned their opponents by the computer.
In the Champions League and Europa League there are two opponents each from four pots, in the Conference League one each from six pots. The UEFA coefficient and thus the performance of the teams in recent years are decisive for the allocation of the pots. As a restriction: matches between league rivals are still excluded, and a team will not play against several teams from the same country.
Who are YB's potential opponents?
YB is in pot 3, while clubs from major leagues such as Monaco, Aston Villa, Bologna and VfB Stuttgart are only in pot 4. However, this is no longer as relevant as it used to be because each team will play two teams from each of the four pots. Theoretically, for example, a series of tough opponents would be possible: Manchester City, Real Madrid, Leverkusen, Arsenal, Sporting, Eindhoven, Stuttgart and Monaco.
The Champions League draw pots
- Pot 1: Real Madrid, Manchester City, FC Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool FC, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, FC Barcelona
- Pot 2: Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta Bergamo, Juventus Turin, Benfica Lisbon, FC Arsenal, FC Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan
- Pot 3: Feyenoord Rotterdam, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Celtic Glasgow, FC Salzburg, BSC Young Boys, Dinamo Zagreb, Lille OSC, Red Star Belgrade
- Pot 4: VfB Stuttgart, AS Monaco, Aston Villa, FC Bologna, FC Girona, Sturm Graz, Stade Brest, Sparta Prague, Slovan Bratislava
When are the matches played?
The league phase lasts from September to January in the Champions League and Europa League, while it ends in December in the Conference League. Each European Cup has one week exclusively for itself: the Champions League in mid-September with 18 matches spread over three days. The final round of the Conference League takes place on December 19, while the league phase of the Champions League and Europa League ends on January 29 and 30 respectively. The round of 16 is scheduled for the beginning of March.
How much money is distributed?
The starting fees for the league phases amount to €18.62 million (Champions League), €4.31 million (Europa League) and €3.17 million (Conference League). In the Champions League, the winner can earn over €100 million in the best case scenario with the UEFA performance bonuses, a good €30 million in the Europa League and around €20 million in the Conference League. Added to this are millions from the market pool. From this, 853 million (Champions League), 198 million (Europa League) and 57 million (Conference League) are distributed depending on the market strength of the club and the associated league.
SDA
