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[Football] New European Format
- Thread starter nickbrighton
- Start date
warmleyseagull
Well-known member
Sky Sports are reporting the draw for the new format will mainly be computerised. Simulations have shown a manual draw for the Champions League alone would require 900 balls and take 3 to 4 hours to complete.
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I have it in my mind of two hapless ex pros drafted in because their bladders can stand it proudly presenting a ball for the umpteenth time after a succession of previous balls were teams from wrong pot or wrong country, then exasperated UEFA official shouting: "FFS, can't you pick a ball that this team can actually f****ing play".
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Not sure I fully understand this. Groups of 8, yet the teams only play 8 games?
AZ Gull
@SeagullsAcademy @seagullsacademy.bsky.social
There are no groups - just a single league of 36 teams.
The 4 "pots" are used to determine the fixtures. The 36 teams are ranked by their UEFA coefficient (so the 8 teams with the highest coefficients are in pot 1, the next 8 teams are in pot 2 etc). Every team will play two matches against (different) teams from each of the 4 pots (1 at home, 1 away), giving an 8-match schedule. [So two matches against pot 1 teams, two matches against pot 2 teams and so on].
A similar sort of system is in use this season for the U-21 sides in Premier Leaue 2.
Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo
I believe in Joe Hendry
- Oct 4, 2003
- 12,063
There are no groups. There is just one league table for all 36 teams.
For the league stage teams will be divided into 4 ranked pots of 9 teams based on their individual co-efficient.
Each team will play 2 opponents from each pot, one at home and one away. This will give each side 8 league stage games (4 home and 4 away).
The top 8 go straight into the last 16. Places 9-24 will play off with the winners going into the last 16.
I just read this new format is so complicated it needs a computer to do the draw as it will take 3 hours if done manually 
What a load of nonsense
What a load of nonsense
- Nov 11, 2009
- 12,271
Not quite sure I follow it fully?
So 36 teams in a big Europa league, effectively 4 groups of 9 (either though no official groups), or you plus 8 others....... but then you only play 4 away and 4 home in the group?, which means you only play each team once?
Besides the fact that some will benefit from easier groups in general, you may also get an away tie to a team with a good home record (who have a bad away record that someone else gets drawn at home against).
That seems a bit bonkers......... with home and away ties against each opponent its equal, with only home or away it negates a lot of the sporting fairness.
AZ Gull
@SeagullsAcademy @seagullsacademy.bsky.social
You don't follow - see posts #24 and #25.
Iggle Piggle
Well-known member
- Sep 3, 2010
- 5,952
The group stage of the Champions league has been dull - by and large - for years. Whilst not the easiest to understand, this new format will be miles better than what we currently have.
I appreciate no one else will think that until the group stage is underway..it will be much better in action that it is to explain.
I appreciate no one else will think that until the group stage is underway..it will be much better in action that it is to explain.
TomandJerry
Well-known member
- Oct 1, 2013
- 12,323
"The new expanded Champions League format is so complex that the draw will be made by computer, after Uefa found it would take up to four hours without digital assistance.
After trials showed the manual draw would take anywhere between three and four hours, roughly the same length as the Oscars, Uefa has decided that only the selection of an initial team from pot one will conducted manually."
After trials showed the manual draw would take anywhere between three and four hours, roughly the same length as the Oscars, Uefa has decided that only the selection of an initial team from pot one will conducted manually."
The counter to this is to take us an example. Never qualified for Europe before, and could struggle to qualify for next season, but we won our group. So every season lots of teams worse than us will keep getting the chance to play in Europe while we might not because we play in a difficult domestic league.
However stacking all European competitions full of teams from just the top leagues would only serve to widen the gap. So there is a careful balance to be struck.
JetsetJimbo
Well-known member
- Jun 13, 2011
- 1,165
I've watched that tweeted video twice now and I still don't get it. I keep expecting Robert Webb to jump out and say "that's Numberwang!"
OK.
Nobby Cybergoat
Well-known member
- Jul 19, 2021
- 8,624
Still. It will make lots of money
TWOCHOICEStom
Well-known member
Mr @TomandJerry I've said this before but it would be really nice if you linked the actual articles to which all of your threads refer to.
Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo
I believe in Joe Hendry
- Oct 4, 2003
- 12,063
There is already a thread discussing the new format for European competition, including the complexity of the draw here.
[Football] - New European Format
Ok this seems change one but the UEFA bank accout holders want, I dont understand how this is fair to anyone. If I have understood the groups are gone, there are groups of 8 playing 4 home and 4 away, and the points gained feed into an amalgamted table of all the other teams. 1-8 are...
www.northstandchat.com
Weststander
Well-known member
Mods …. please could you merge them?
From The Guardian:
The new expanded Champions League format is so complex that the draw will be made by computer, after Uefa found it would take up to four hours without digital assistance.
A 36-team competition comes into effect next season, with results from eight rounds of fixtures in the league phase – each team will face eight opponents, four at home, four away – forming a table. From there, the top eight teams go through to the round of 16, while 16 more play off to complete the knockout lineup. It is a system the governing body believes will deliver more big games and greater jeopardy than the current Champions League format, but explaining its intricacies may prove a challenge. One example is in the initial league phase draw. Each team will be entered into one of four pots based on their Uefa ranking, as is the case in the existing format.
In a change from the current system, however, a team will face opponents from their own pot, one team at home and another away. They will also face two opponents from each of the other pots. With further details to consider, such as clubs from the same country being prevented from facing each other, the group stage draw becomes more and more complicated.
After trials showed the manual draw would take anywhere between three and four hours, roughly the same length as the Oscars, Uefa has decided that only the selection of an initial team from pot one will conducted manually. A computer programmed by a company in Hertfordshire will then choose that team’s opponents and whether they will be faced home or away. Uefa insists the process will be secure, and that it will be audited by the accountancy firm Ernst and Young to ensure the draws – which will be broadcast – are fair.
There will also be new developments later in the draw, with tennis-style seeding added to the knockout stages. The first eight through to the knockout stages will be seeded according to their league phase position, meaning the top two sides, as in a tennis Open, would not be able to face each other until the final. Clubs will be able to plot their route to the final once the last-16 draw, which is held before the playoffs, has been made.
There will be changes to the football calendar too, with each of Uefa’s three club competitions – the Europa League and Europa Conference League are also adopting a single league phase system – having one match week where only their fixtures take place. Giorgio Marchetti, Uefa’s deputy secretary, said the format would be “the most revolutionary, or evolutionary, change in 30 years”.
With this season’s competitions yet to reach the quarter-final stages, Uefa has got on the front foot in attempting to explain its new format. It has a lot riding on its success, with turbulence ongoing within European club football.
The new format has been under discussion since 2018 and was agreed upon by the Uefa executive weeks before the European Super League attempted its abortive launch.
The new expanded Champions League format is so complex that the draw will be made by computer, after Uefa found it would take up to four hours without digital assistance.
A 36-team competition comes into effect next season, with results from eight rounds of fixtures in the league phase – each team will face eight opponents, four at home, four away – forming a table. From there, the top eight teams go through to the round of 16, while 16 more play off to complete the knockout lineup. It is a system the governing body believes will deliver more big games and greater jeopardy than the current Champions League format, but explaining its intricacies may prove a challenge. One example is in the initial league phase draw. Each team will be entered into one of four pots based on their Uefa ranking, as is the case in the existing format.
In a change from the current system, however, a team will face opponents from their own pot, one team at home and another away. They will also face two opponents from each of the other pots. With further details to consider, such as clubs from the same country being prevented from facing each other, the group stage draw becomes more and more complicated.
After trials showed the manual draw would take anywhere between three and four hours, roughly the same length as the Oscars, Uefa has decided that only the selection of an initial team from pot one will conducted manually. A computer programmed by a company in Hertfordshire will then choose that team’s opponents and whether they will be faced home or away. Uefa insists the process will be secure, and that it will be audited by the accountancy firm Ernst and Young to ensure the draws – which will be broadcast – are fair.
There will also be new developments later in the draw, with tennis-style seeding added to the knockout stages. The first eight through to the knockout stages will be seeded according to their league phase position, meaning the top two sides, as in a tennis Open, would not be able to face each other until the final. Clubs will be able to plot their route to the final once the last-16 draw, which is held before the playoffs, has been made.
There will be changes to the football calendar too, with each of Uefa’s three club competitions – the Europa League and Europa Conference League are also adopting a single league phase system – having one match week where only their fixtures take place. Giorgio Marchetti, Uefa’s deputy secretary, said the format would be “the most revolutionary, or evolutionary, change in 30 years”.
With this season’s competitions yet to reach the quarter-final stages, Uefa has got on the front foot in attempting to explain its new format. It has a lot riding on its success, with turbulence ongoing within European club football.
The new format has been under discussion since 2018 and was agreed upon by the Uefa executive weeks before the European Super League attempted its abortive launch.
Cheshire Cat
The most curious thing..
That sounds more exciting than most of the games.Sky Sports are reporting the draw for the new format will mainly be computerised. Simulations have shown a manual draw for the Champions League alone would require 900 balls and take 3 to 4 hours to complete.
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US Seagull
Well-known member
At least there's no more dropping out of the Champions League and landing in the Europa League, at least as I understand it.