True, PSG, Juventus, Arsenal. Sparta looks at the giants, Krejčí and Priske can return to Prague – Sport.cz

Real Madrid, PSG, Juventus, Arsenal, Feyenoord with the experienced coach Prisko. And besides, PSV Eindhoven, Aston Villa and Girona, where Spartan boss Ladislav Krejčí recently moved this summer.

No, such a program in the coming weeks and months is not a fantasy, but a reality.

UEFA has changed the current format of the Champions League. The 32 teams so far, divided into eight groups of four, have been completely beaten. She extended the main level by four manchafts. Newly, one big table of all 36 teams will be created. Each will play eight games against selected opponents.

Four at home, four away.

Six in the autumn, the other two at the end of January.

This is also a big difference, so far in the basic level of the Champions League, each team has played six duels.

On the other hand, it remains that the clubs are divided into four performance baskets before the draw, and the criterion is the club coefficient of the given clubs.

In the European cups, the most successful, ie at the same time the strongest, teams are in the first basket.

What does the writing look like now?

1st bin: Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, PSG, Liverpool, Inter, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona.

2nd bin: Bayer Leverkusen, Atlético Madrid, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica Lisbon, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan

3rd bin: Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Celtic, Young Boys Bern, Salzburg Slavia/Lille, Dinamo Zagreb/Karabakh

4th bin: Monaco, Aston Villa, Boloňa, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest, Sparta

3rd or 4th basket: CZ Belgrade, or Bodo/Glimt. Slovan Bratislava, or Midtjylland.

Graphically represented in italics, you can see the last four remaining available slots, which will be filled late on Wednesday night after the Champions League Final Qualifiers replays. The teams that are on the edge of the last two baskets will still be waiting for the results of the preliminary rounds.

For example, it is certain that a suitable club coefficient will ensure a place in Slavia or Lille in the third performance basket.

Nothing can change for Sparta. It will remain in the fourth basket, belonging to the weakest or unproven teams in European cups.

Forget the current method of drawing with balls containing slips of paper with hidden club names. Sophisticated software takes care of most of the process, scheduling the program according to the specified criteria.

Individual teams are assigned two opponents from each basket. He invites one at home, travels to the other. In the basic level, two teams from the same country are not allowed to meet each other – so forget about the fight between Real and Barcelona for now. In the group, Sparta will face up to two opponents from one country. There is no danger of a three-way battle between Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

The draw will take place on Thursday from 17.00 in Monaco. And be careful, another novel interferes with the creation of the program. Although Sparta will learn the names of the opponents on Thursday, the fixture list with specific dates and kick-off times will be drawn up and announced on Saturday 31 August. UEFA will be waiting for the Europa League and Conference draws. He wants to ensure that the European Cups are not played on the same days in the same cities.

From the 36 teams after the Champions League preliminary stage, the eight teams with the most points will advance directly to the round of 16. Clubs in 9th to 24th place will be the pairings competing for the eight final pairs to complete. For the worst twelve teams, the Champions League ends in January.

But the new year is far away. Sparta just likes to participate among the best. The Champions League will start on September 17, after 19 years it will also visit Letná. Are you looking forward too?