August 29 – The final line up for the UEFA Champions League draw was confirmed last night with wins for Dinamo Zagreb, Crevena Zvezda, Slavia Prague and Slovan Bratislava. They fill the remaining spots in the all new 36-team draw to take place in Monaco tonight and the unveiling of a new era for international club football in Europe.
Whichever way you look at it, tonight’s gala ceremony marks a major change for the world’s leading club competition, both competitively and politically.
It is a bold re-invention of a competition that had not lost its lustre but needed to bring an edge back into the competition, particularly in its early stages.
The key selling points for the new League stage format are clear and intoxicating for even the most cynical of Champions League fans.
More big clubs facing each other in meaningful contests from the start of the competition
Eight different teams to be played (four home and four away) creating a much greater diversity of competition, styles of play and new clubs and players for clubs and fans to get to grip with
And jeopardy at every stage – every point and every goal matters in the league stage which will determine seeding for the Round of 16
In an eve-of-draw briefing UEFA outlined the draw process that will see four pots of nine teams ranked by their club co-efficients.
All 36 teams will be manually drawn using physical balls. Once a team is drawn, automated software will randomly draw eight opponents – two from each of the four pots – also deciding which matches will be at home and which ones away.
Conditions built into the software mean that teams from the same country cannot play each other in the league stage, and that there are a maximum of two opponents from any other federation.
Not surprisingly teams from Europe’s Big 5 leagues fill Pot 1 (three from Germany, two each from England and Spain), while Pot 4 has five teams from the Big 5. In between is a fascinating balance of national champions…
Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/08/29/uefa-set-usher-shiny-new-era-champions-league-football-monaco-draw/
Author : Paul Nicholson
Publish date : 2024-08-29 10:07:09
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