This Thursday, August 29, from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., UEFA will inaugurate a brand new draw system for the “league phase” of the champions League. A new method very different from previous seasons, more computerized, to decide the eight matches of each club. Insights.
A mini revolution. This Thursday, August 29, from 6 p.m., the highly anticipated draw for the new phase of the Champions League championship will take place. Starting this 2024-2025 season, UEFA is breaking with the tradition of eight groups of four teams. These will give way to a single group bringing together the 36 qualified teams (instead of 32 previously).
These 36 teams will face 8 different opponents (four at home, four away). The schedule will be established by a computer.
>> Champions League: the draw live
A new hybrid system between white balls and computer calculation
At the luxurious Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, representatives of the 36 qualified teams will be invited to take their seats. While this draw that will decide this unique group stage will be partly carried out using software, club managers and television viewers will still see the traditional bowls filled with white balls appear.
The hand dipped in the bowl containing nine balls, like the number of teams in each pot, will be the first gesture that will inaugurate the draw. The shooter will first attack pot 1, entirely, before moving on to the other three pots, in descending order. The pot system has not changed: the first groups together the national champions, the winner of the Champions League and the winner of the Europa League; the others sort the rest of the clubs according to their UEFA index.
When the ball from a hat 1 is drawn, a random computer calculation is performed and the list of opponents is revealed, then the distribution of home-away matches. A software controls the procedure in real time.
Constraints on the calendar
This stage, which is based solely on random calculation, is nevertheless guided by several constraints to ensure a certain fairness: for example, it is impossible in UEFA regulations to face a compatriot opponent in this group stage. And no more than two opponents from the same country.
By following this protocol, the 36 qualifiers will know all their opponents at the end of a draw lasting nearly 35 minutes (instead of more than 4 hours if the old non-computerized system had been preserved). For the final phase which will still begin in February, the constraint of team volume will be absent so the draw will be entirely done by hand. Like in the old days.
For this phase of the championship, the match schedule, dates and kick-off times will be established after the draw and announced on Saturday 31 August. All in order to coordinate the schedules of the three UEFA European competitions and to distribute the matches as fairly as possible, whether it be the days or the sequence of opponents (not facing two teams from the same pot in a row for example).
