The draw will start with nine teams from the first basket according to the club coefficient. They are Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Dortmund, Leipzig and Barcelona. As explained by SID, using the AELive software, each of these nine teams will be randomly assigned two opponents from baskets one to four within seconds, and it will also be known immediately which matches the team will have the advantage of the home environment.
The process will then continue in the same manner with bins two through four. Two limitations were made to the automated software. Clubs cannot be assigned an opponent from their own country in the league phase. In addition, each club may play a maximum of two opponents from one national association. In addition, the software proactively checks that a so-called “deadlock” cannot occur and that teams that are drawn later still have opponents despite these two restrictions.
Both Czech representatives are still in the game for promotion to the main competition. In the final 4th preliminary round, Sparta will face Malmö and Slavia will face Lille. Vršovičí would be in the third place in case of promotion, Letenští would most likely be in the fourth basket.
Under the old draw system, more than 1,000 balls and more than 36 baskets would have been needed on stage, Tobias Hedtstück, UEFA’s head of club competitions, explained the change in procedure. “The drawing would then take about three hours. That would be a bit complicated and long,” he added.
The “new” draw should instead take around 35 minutes and will also take place at the same venue on August 30 for the Europa League and Conference League. The Champions League has expanded from 32 to 36 teams, instead of groups it will be played in a league system with a common table. Each team will face two opponents from each bank, playing them one match at home and one away.
There will be no further draw as the seeding order for the knock-out section will be determined based on placement in the league system.
