This Thursday, October 1, from 6:00 p.m. in Nyon, the traditional draw for the group stage of the Champions League will be held. It will be behind closed doors, so representatives of the different clubs will not attend. Despite the fact that the coronavirus has completely transformed the world of football, the Champions League, which will start later than in previous years, keeps the format intact. There will no longer be, except for a change in the variables, a final to eight in a neutral venue and the qualifiers will once again be a two-legged game.
Drums: what are they? How are they formed?
The draw, of course, will not be pure. As always, you will face four teams that will come from four different pots. These drums are chosen based on UEFA coefficient. Of course, the first is formed by the champion of the Champions (Bayern), the champion of the Europa League (Seville) and the winners of the six leagues of the countries with the best position in the UEFA ranking: England, Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Russia. In this case, as the one who lifted the Champions League was also crowned in his championship, Porto enters as Portuguese champion. The rest of the drums are made up of the UEFA ranking of the remaining clubs. Thus, the drums are composed in such a way:
–Pot 1: Bayern Munich, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Juventus, PSG, Liverpool, Zenit and Oporto.
–Pot 2: Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax and Shakhtar.
–Pot 3: Inter, Lazio, Atalanta, Leipzig, Olympiacos, Dynamo Kyiv and two teams yet to meet. *
–Pot 4: Borussia Monchengladbach, Rennes, Istanbul Basaksehir, Ferencvaros and four teams yet to meet. *
* The rest will be known after the dispute of the previous round. There are teams already classified (Lokomotiv Moscow, Bruges or Marseille), but they do not know their hype because it is conditioned to the rest of the results.
Rules and format of the draw
The format is simple and the same as in previous years. Eight groups of four teams, one per drum. They will meet in six round trips and the best two of each of them will qualify for the round of 16. The third parties will receive the consolation prize of the sixteenth of the Europa League. The quarters will be definitively eliminated and they will have to wait for another season to defend their colors for the old continent.
Not everything will depend on chance, there will be conditions. First, teams from the same country cannot be played in the same group. UEFA, due to political conflicts and in order to avoid greater evils, also restricts other confrontations such as, for example, that of clubs from Russia and Ukraine.
Another factor to take into account is the competition days. Groups A, B, C and D will play one day and E, F, G and H will play their matches the other. Of course to avoid carambola like that all clubs in a country face a new match on Tuesday and none on Wednesday, it is assumed that a maximum of two per Federation can coincide on the same day. Further, generally it is to avoid that two pointers or two of the same city go by the same side. In other words, Real Madrid and Barcelona will never coincide on the same daily match.
Competition calendar
Despite the fact that everything is again conditioned to the evolution of the pandemic in Europe, UEFA has already announced the dates of the competition. The fight to inherit the throne of Bayern Munich will begin on October 20 and will last until May 29. Istanbul Ataturk Olympic Stadium to host grand final. It had been assigned for the 2019-20 season, but the organization opted for Lisbon to act as a bubble and fully guarantee the normal development of the competition.
-Group stage:
Matchday 1: October 20 and 21.
Matchday 2: October 27 and 28.
Matchday 3: November 3 and 4.
Matchday 4: November 24 and 25.
Matchday 5: December 1 and 2.
Matchday 6: December 8 and 9.
-Elimination:
Round of 16: February 16, 17, 23 and 24 the first leg. March 9, 10, 16 and 17 return.
Quarterfinals: April 6 and 7 the first leg. April 13 and 14 the return.
Semifinals: April 27 and 28 the first leg. May 4 and 5 the return.
End: May 29.
What is the UEFA ranking?
The UEFA ranking, which determines which clubs go to which pot, is a study of the European performances of each club in the five seasons prior to the one in question. Looking ahead to this campaign, Bayern Munich command the classification. It should be noted that not only the final classification is taken into consideration, but the entire process. Each draw, each victory, each defeat … They add up different points that help to rank the participants. For example, Real Madrid received 33 points for winning in 2015-16 and 32 for doing so in 2017-18. Bayern, although it was a different year, accumulated 36 last edition.
He Barcelona complete the podium and the Athletic is fourth. It is followed by Juventus, he City, he PSG, he Seville and the United. Tenth position for Liverpool, who accuse not to participate in the 2016-17 season. He Shakhtar Donetsk, now in pot 2, it's 12th. Leipzig (31º) or Inter (33rd), now considered clubs to be reckoned with, are so low for their failures in years past. He AtalantaWithout going any further, it ranks 48th.