The football season has just begun across Europe. Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Aston Villa will be the EPL teams in the UEFA Champions League (UCL). This season, the Champions League will be played under an entirely new format. Instead of a traditional group stage, all 36 teams will compete in a single league. But its not only the format that’s new, there is a new specialized software to do the draws.
Due to the complexity of the new format, this season’s draw will be automated using a specialized computer program provided by AE Live. AE Live was appointed as the software provider in September 2023. The company will partner with UEFA for all draws. UEFA states that AE Live have developed and tested the software, integrating various internal and external mechanisms to check and verify the results.
Last week, UEFA released a video showcasing this new process.
New UEFA Champions League Format
The UEFA Champions League having 36 teams for the 2024/25 season is due to an expansion. In the new league phase (formerly the Group Stage), teams will play a total of eight matches against eight different opponents, instead of the previous format of three teams playing each other twice.”
Starting with Pot 1, each team will be paired with eight opponents in a sequential manner. This process will be repeated for the remaining pots. The software guarantees that each team faces two opponents from each pot.
“To determine the eight different opponents, teams will be seeded in four pots based on their individual club coefficient at the beginning of the season (the only exception being the UEFA Champions League titleholder always top seed in pot 1). Each team will then be drawn against two opponents from each pot, one of which will be at home and one away. The same will apply for the UEFA Europa League, while for the UEFA Conference League each side will face six opponents only, one from each of the six pots,” writes UEFA in a post.
READ: Premier League to Introduce a Major VAR Technology Upgrade
This year’s first draw will be held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo on 29th and 30th of August.
