UEFA announced that for the new edition of the Champions League, which will have a new format, it will use two methods to carry out the draw that will determine the fate of the 36 teams. One will be a small manual section to draw the corresponding balls for each team and another, the most important, will be completely digital, with software that will randomly determine the rivals of each club.
The tournament, which will have a new format, as it will not have a Group Stage but a league with 36 teams, will once again use software to help the correct development of the draw.
In this new competition format, those finishing between 1st and 8th place will go directly to the round of 16, those finishing between 9th and 24th will play a two-legged play-off to enter the next stage, and those finishing between 25th and 36th will be eliminated.
The 36 teams will be ranked in four pots according to their coefficient before the draw. The only team that is not included in this list is the current champion, in this case Real Madrid, which will go into pot 1.
Each team will face two rivals from its own pot and two others from each of the other three remaining pots for a total of eight matches, of which four will be played at home and four as visitors.
The home team for each match will be randomly determined by the aforementioned software. Thus, each team will play a total of eight matches in the Champions League and the Europa League, while in the Conference League there will be only six.
The draw format maintains the rule of not pitting two teams from the same country against each other and includes a new rule of not placing a team against more than two rivals from another country.
On the other hand, the company AeLive is the one that will provide the software for the draw and during the explanatory meeting, it assured that it is prepared to defend itself against any cyberattack that could interfere with the draw.
UEFA has also confirmed that the Champions League draw will take place on 29 August, while the Europa League and Conference League draws will take place on 30 August, all in Monaco.
