European football is at a major crossroads. The institution in Nyon clearly says: “What awaits us from September is the biggest football revolution in the last 30 years”. The fans are also aware of this, for the most part they do not approve of the changes that UEFA has already confirmed (increasing the number of clubs in all three European Cups and changing the competition system, with the main correction in the form of the abolition of the classic group stage and the ranking of all teams on a common table), and the latest the information coming from the headquarters of the European House of Football will further enrage traditionalists and romantics in love with the Champions League as it is/was.Given that there won’t be such a Champions League from September onward, so it’s quite logical that there won’t be a special treat called the draw. Or rather, it will not be in the form in which we followed it and eagerly awaited it.The European Super League just ran into another big obstacle!Everyone knows how the draw was organized until this season, so let’s not waste time going through it and explaining; what matters is how it will all look in the future.”Deputy General Secretary of UEFA, Giorgio Marchetti, openly said that it is impossible for the draw to remain completely manual, because for the realization of everything, around 900 balls would be needed. He also said that the whole process would last at least four hours. Due to all this, the decision was made that the draw will be computerized in the future,” writes the Independent.”UEFA announced that the exact format of the draw has not yet been determined, the final phase of project development is underway, but what is certain – it will be a ‘hybrid event’ that will involve a part of manual drawing, i.e. a greater part of automation”.##NAJAVA_MECA_7950691##The automated elements are currently undergoing various stages of testing to avoid any suspicion of draw rigging. It was disclosed that the Hertfordshire company made the special computer, and that the accounting firm Ernst and Young will take care of the regularity.What does the manual part of the draw mean, and what does the automated part mean?As stated in the Independent, citing reliable sources from Nyon, only the clubs from the first pool will be drawn. A ball is opened, we find out the name of the team (let’s say the seed), and then the computer determines which eight rivals that team will meet.They will get two opponents from each hat, and then they will play one at home and the other away. Therefore, everything will be known in a few seconds…What is particularly important to note is that, starting next season, UEFA will introduce a seeding system based on the tennis draw, so that the clubs that finish first and second go to different sides of the competition tree and will not be able to meet until the final. Likewise, the third and fourth will not be able to meet before the semi-finals. In this way, the organizers have the idea to motivate the teams to play with maximum commitment even when they secure passage to the round of 16.##EDITORS_CHOICE##This means that each club will have a ‘charted’ route to the finals immediately following the draw for the round of 16, which will take place before the play-offs.As a reminder, the first eight teams from the common table go directly to the round of 16. In addition to a long rest – until the beginning of March – those eight teams will also secure the role of seed in the draw for the round of 16. Teams from 9th to 24th position qualify for the much-mentioned playoffs. Now, it is not the same whether you will be 10th or 22nd. Clubs from 9th to 16th position will be privileged – a privileged role in the draw and a second leg in front of the home crowd. This should make every game important until the very end of the competition.The winners of the play-off, eight of them, will join the clubs that directly advanced, having won one of the first eight places. From the round of 16 onwards, the competition continues to follow the existing format, with the fact that, as we have already said, the best placed are on different sides of the competition tree.Teams below the 24th place are done with the competition, there is no more downgrade to the Europa League.The Champions League draw next season will be completed by a computer. Clubs will be manually drawn initially, then a computer will take over and select their 8 opponents for the 36-team league. [@SkyKaveh] pic.twitter.com/LqKdcwS6CQ— Football Talk (@FootballTalkHQ) March 13, 2024 When it comes to the calendar, the changes are not big, but they are not really cosmetic either. The first six rounds will be played from September 17 to December 11, 2024, while the last two rounds move into the next year and will be scheduled in the second half of January. The play-off matches are scheduled for February, and then the classic knockout phase starts in March – the round of 16 and so on until May 31, when the final is scheduled at Munich’s Allianz Arena.It is important to point out that each of the three European competitions in the new system will have one “exclusive week”. For example, there will be no Europa League and Conference League matches in the “exclusive week” of the Champions League. The matches of the elite competition in that week will be divided into Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.Thanks to the new format, instead of 125 matches, we will watch a total of 189 Champions League matches during one season.But let’s go back for a moment to the ‘draw’, which is the central theme of this story. There was another idea, and it came from the General Secretary Theodoros Theodiridis. He suggested that after the league part, the classic draw should be replaced by some kind of ‘draft’, similar to American sports?!It would imply that the eight first-placed teams have the right to choose who they will play with in the round of 16?! The table would determine the preference during selection.”Theodiridis had the idea that the teams qualified for the round of 16 would choose their rivals themselves and that the broadcast would be broadcast live on television,” writes the Independent. “For example, the first-placed club after the league stage would be the first to get 30 seconds in a live TV program to choose an opponent who passed the play-off stage. However, the other members in the discussion rejected this proposal for the sake of introducing a tennis system/competition tree”.Big changes, radical changes at all levels. And we believe, many do not agree with them…
