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2024-25 UEFA Champions League

citytillidie

The first qualifying round draw is tomorrow with Shamrock Rovers being seeded.

Group 1
Seeded: ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK), Lincoln Red Imps FC (GIB), The New Saints FC (WAL), FC Ballkani (KOS) & FK Borac Banja Luka (BIH)

Unseeded:
Hamrun Spartans FC (MLT), FC Struga (MKD), FK Dečić (MNE), KF Egnatia (ALB) & UE Santa Coloma (AND)

Group 2
Seeded:
HJK Helsinki (FIN), FC Flora Tallinn (EST), KÍ Klaksvík (FRO), Shamrock Rovers FC (IRL) & FC RFS (LVA)

Unseeded:
NK Celje (SVN), Larne FC (NIR), FK Panevėžys (LTU), Vikingur Reykjavík (ISL) & FC Differdange 03 (LUX)

Group 3
Seeded: PFC Ludogorets 1945 (BUL), Fotbal Club FCSB (ROU), FC Pyunik (ARM) & FC Petrocub (MDA)

Unseeded: FC Dinamo Batumi (GEO), FC Dinamo Minsk (BLR), FC Ordabasy (KAZ) & Virtus A.C. 1964 (SMR)

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lertsnim

The referee has made an absolute howler in the Young Boys v Galatasaray game.

citytillidie

Play-off Round 1st Leg Results
Champions Path
FK Bodø/Glimt (NOR) 2 V 1 FK Crvena zvezda (SRB)
GNK Dinamo (CRO) 3 V 0 Qarabağ FK (AZE)
BSC Young Boys (SUI) 3 V 2 Galatasaray A.Ş. (TUR)
FC Midtjylland (DEN) 1 V 1 ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
Malmö FF (SWE) 0 V 2 AC Sparta Praha (CZE)

League Path
LOSC Lille (FRA) 2 V 0 SK Slavia Praha (CZE)
FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR) 0 V 2 FC Salzburg (AUT)

Play-off Round 2nd Legs
Tuesday 27th August
Champions Path
Galatasaray A.Ş. (TUR) V BSC Young Boys (SUI) - (Agg 2-3) - (20:00) - Live on Amazon

League Path
AC Sparta Praha (CZE) V Malmö FF (SWE) - (Agg 2-0) - (20:00) - Live on TNT Sports 1
FC Salzburg (AUT) V FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR) - (Agg 2-0) - (20:00) - Live on TNT Sports 2

Wednesday 28th August
Champions Path
Qarabağ FK (AZE) V GNK Dinamo (CRO) - (Agg 0-3) - (17:45) - Live on TNT Sports 1
FK Crvena zvezda (SRB) V FK Bodø/Glimt (NOR) - (Agg 1-2) - (20:00) - Live on TNT Sports 2
SK Slavia Praha (CZE) V LOSC Lille (FRA) - (Agg 0-2) - (20:00) - Live on TNT Sports 1
ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK) V FC Midtjylland (DEN) - (Agg 1-1) - (20:00) - Live on TNT Sports 3

Brussels Sprout

So I knew about the new League phase and I knew about the first knock-out round only being between the teams ranked in the second and third quarters of the table.

What I didn't realise though is that the entire knockout bracket is going to be set after the League phase. So, much like Wimbledon or the PDC Darts The #1 seeded team and the #2 seeded team will be on opposite sides of the draw. Ditto the #3 and #4. If they were to win all of their games then the semi-finals would be #1 vs #4 and #2 vs #3. I believe this will the case for all teams making the knock-outs.

That means that now only does the quarter that you end up in matter but also your rank within that quarter.

While I'm not against that in principle it does effectively mean that the only Champion's League draws anymore are going to be in the qualifying rounds (The League phase has a draw but it's mostly ceremonial).

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122554121#Comment_122554121

I don’t think this is correct. Have you a link on that?

Brussels Sprout

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122554192#Comment_122554192

You mentioned the last 16 would be different too?

Yes. UEFA has set up a tennis-style knockout phase which will ensure that the teams who finished first and second in the league are kept apart on opposite sides of the draw until the final, similarly third and fourth, fifth and sixth, seventh and eighth.

This is why every point could potentially count right up to the final matchday, even where a team knows they cannot finish outside the top eight.

source

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122554275#Comment_122554275

Wow, that’s very different to what I’d read upto now. Gonna have to look further to see which is actually correct.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122554300#Comment_122554300

Based on the fact that UEFA has dates advertised for the draws for these rounds, I don’t think it actually is correct

https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/draws/

Brussels Sprout

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122554300#Comment_122554300

On the UEFA website they have the following slides

So it looks like there is a little bit more nuance to it - in that there will be some kind of draw (note the "1 or 2") but the seedings will determine that path and the teams higher up will get the advantage by playing lower ranked teams on their path to the final. So #1 looks like they'd play #15 and #7 en-route to the semi-finals (if those teams won their earlier matches)

source

citytillidie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122554306#Comment_122554306

Draw will determine what side of the draw you are on this is how the Knock-out rounds will look like

https://www.uefa.com/newformatexplainer/#!/admin/slideshow/presentation/1/chapter/1/slide/11

Brussels Sprout

OK, so putting all that together. The group finishes up in January.

Then there will be a draw on 31st of January that will determine which side of the draw the teams in the play-offs (#9-#24) go into.

So #17 will either be placed on the Left side of the bracket or the right side, with #18 ending up on the opposite side

Left side

Right-Side

Same goes for the pairing of #15/#16.

By putting those teams on one side or the other that will also confirm who plays who in the play-off round.

So going into the draw each team will know that they have one of 2 possible opponents and one of two possible sides of the draw.

After this draw is completed each of the teams ranked #9-#24 will know where they stand in the bracket in relation to all of those other teams. It'll still be a bit unknown though because the teams ranked #1-#8 won't have been allocated to one side or the other.

The two play-off ties will be played in February and after they're completed the final draw of the competition takes place (on Feb 21st). That draw will put the 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 & 7/8 pairings on the Left or Right hand side. Once that's done it both completes the Last 16 ties and also locks in the future fixtures for the rest of the competition.

I wonder why they don't do the #1-#8 pairings at the same time as the rest. Creating a bit of suspense perhaps?

citytillidie

From what i have seen TNT will not be having their goal show anymore either with the BBC having match clips on its website and on social media. BBC also will have match by match highlights from 10pm on Wednesday night with Match of the Day from 10:40pm on Wednesday nights.

TNT might not want to have the goals show as it will highlight they no longer have exclusive UK coverage with Amazon having first picks on a Tuesday night. Nothing has been confirmed looking around.

With Premier Sports/RTE/Virgin Media having the rights in Ireland not sure who will if any have clips during the game for social media/websites.

citytillidie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122555008#Comment_122555008

Extra day out for the big wigs doing a 2nd draw after the play-off round

CSF

Why do UEFA have a draw date listed for each round though, if it’s predetermined in such a fashion?

Brussels Sprout

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122555275#Comment_122555275

The other dates are just match dates.

From the link that you provided:

noodler

Sounds like the quarters onwards are gonna be more homogeneous than ever

Brussels Sprout

The more I think about it the more I like the knockout seeding aspect:

Under the old system a lot of the top teams had already won their groups by matchday #6 (or even #5). Now they'll have every incentive to finish as high as possible so all the games should be competitive in the League phase
With the open draw there existed a real possibility of teams getting much softer paths to the final than others. Now you cannot get to a final without beating one of the top 2 ranked teams or beating the team that knocked them out (unless you were one of the top 2 ranked teams yourself, in which case you'll need to beat the third of forth ranked team (or their conquerors))

On the final game week of the League phase all matches will be played simultaneously. It's going to be very exciting as teams move up or down between different quarters and seedings due to goals coming in from other games. Almost guaranteed that with 16 matches being played at once that there will be some pivotal last minute drama.

NIMAN

Is the draw tomorrow?

citytillidie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122555870#Comment_122555870

5pm tomorrow so I say it starts about 5:15 or later

citytillidie

Play-off Round 2nd Leg Results
Champions Path
Galatasaray A.Ş. (TUR) 0 V 1 BSC Young Boys (SUI) - (Agg 2-4)
Qarabağ FK (AZE) 0 V 2 GNK Dinamo (CRO) - (Agg 0-5)
FK Crvena zvezda (SRB) 2 V 0 FK Bodø/Glimt (NOR) - (Agg 3-2)
SK Slavia Praha (CZE) 2 V 1 LOSC Lille (FRA) - (Agg 1-3)
ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK) 3 V 2 FC Midtjylland (DEN) - (Agg 4-3)

League Path
AC Sparta Praha (CZE) 2 V 0 Malmö FF (SWE) - (Agg 4-0)
FC Salzburg (AUT) 1 V 1 FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR) - (Agg 3-1)

citytillidie

Pot 1: Real Madrid C.F. (ESP), Manchester City FC (ENG), FC Bayern München (GER), Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Liverpool FC (ENG), FC Internazionale Milano (ITA), Borussia Dortmund (GER), RB Leipzig (GER) & FC Barcelona (ESP)
Pot 2: Bayer 04 Leverkusen (GER), Atlético de Madrid (ESP), Atalanta BC (ITA), Juventus (ITA), SL Benfica (POR), Arsenal FC (ENG), Club Brugge KV (BEL), FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) & AC Milan (ITA)
Pot 3: Feyenoord (NED), Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR), PSV Eindhoven (NED), GNK Dinamo (CRO), FC Salzburg (AUT), LOSC Lille (FRA), FK Crvena zvezda (SRB), BSC Young Boys (SUI) & Celtic FC (SCO)
Pot 4: ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK), AS Monaco (FRA), AC Sparta Praha (CZE), Aston Villa FC (ENG), Bologna FC 1909 (ITA), Girona FC (ESP), VfB Stuttgart (GER), SK Sturm Graz (AUT) & Stade Brestois 29 (FRA)

HalloweenJack

I see they've also done away with the 'league champions go into pot one' idea which was actually a good one.

It helped a lot of surprise league winners have a decent shot at the group stages and meant pot two had some really strong teams as well.

ArmaniJeanss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122556960#Comment_122556960

The thing is that what seeding pot you are in no longer confers any advantage.

Everyone's 8 games will have 2 games v Pot1 teams, and 2 games v Pot2, Pot3 & Po4.

So Aston Villa in Pot 4 can expect to have as difficult/easy a set of fixtures as Liverpool or City in Pot 1.

jacool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122555878#Comment_122555878

I'd say about 6 p.m. knowing UEFA!

jacool

Looking forward to some "unique" fixtures out of this lot. Bologna and Aston Villa look like the only Pot 4 teams that might hope to make the last 24, for me. Pot 3 looks weak enough. The first two pots must be thinking that they should all make the knockouts.

Pauliedragon

With the automated draw the conspiracy theories will be running wild after the draw with teams claiming it was fixed.

Brussels Sprout

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122557500#Comment_122557500

This is 100% guaranteed to happen.

If Madrid and City get drawn to play each other: "Fix!"

If they instead get drawn against Leipzig: "Fix!"

It's so very very tiring

The Rooster

I hope they have teams from the same pot playing each other early on.
City v Madrid, Barca v Liverpool would be massive games in Round 1/2 but could be dead rubbers in round 7/8 if both are already qualified and it only effects seeding. Then some teams in Pot 1 would get off to bad starts and be under pressure and some teams from Pot 4 would get off to good starts.

A similar group system has been an abject failure in the Rugby Euro Cup, but I’m open minded in this, a change was needed and it may work out well.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122557730#Comment_122557730

All games between top teams are going to be a dead rubber when 24 teams qualify and only 12 are eliminated after 8 games each.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122557166#Comment_122557166

Young Boys will relish the the chance to get Brest for the first time.

ArmaniJeanss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122558346#Comment_122558346

Well there's a big incentive to finish Top 8, and avoid the extra 2 games in February. At a minimum they are inconvenient games for scheduling purposes. If you lose both Pot1 games then you are going to struggle for Top 8 so they shouldn't be dead rubbers.

There's a lesser incentive to finish first or second as this gives you a theoretically better route through the knockout part of the competition.