The new one Champions League It must be understood through its groundbreaking format that will be drawn this Thursday at 6 pm at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, but it must also be deciphered in the politics of UEFA’s push for the European Super League project led by. Florentino Perezpresident of Real Madrid, and supported by Joan Laporta, president of FC Barcelona. In a press conference, UEFA’s deputy general secretary and director of football, Giorgio Marchettiassured in this regard this Wednesday that the organization “did not impose any format” and said that it was not a response to the Super League.
“We have studied the reform of the competition for a long time, since 2018. We talked with the clubs and we agreed that it is time to carry out a deep reform. We studied a lot of formats. Regarding the calendar, there was many conversations, we have “We listened to all the parties and everything that was done in the agreement with the interested parties, especially the clubs, UEFA did not impose any format,” he said.
Marchetti He responded with a curt “no” to the question of whether the new “Champions” was a response to the Super League and asserted UEFA’s confidence in the changing model. “If we didn’t believe that this system would be as successful as the previous one, we wouldn’t have done it. We are sure that the competition will grow. We want to make the right draw. There has been no benefit for anyone in the past and there will be no benefit in the future ,” he maintained.
Marchetti offered together with UEFA’s head of club competitions and agenda, Tobias Hedstückdetails of the formation of the draw this Thursday on its stage, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, with those responsible for the company AE Live, responsible for the software that will be used to determine the pairings: David Gill and Gordon Vince.
When the 36 clubs are divided into 4 pots in order of coefficient, and with Real Madrid included first as the current champion, the names of the teams will be physically available and the software will identify their eight rivals , two from each pot , and which four games will be played at home and which four away.
As they explained, the software AE Live It will take less than a second to check if all the requirements are met so that the draw can proceed according to the criteria established to design a league, whose calendar will be known on Saturday, August 31.
After the preliminary stage, the first eight will directly access the round of 16. Those finishing between ninth and 24th place will play in a two-legged eliminator in February to complete the round of 16. And those who finish between 25 and 36 will be eliminated.
From the round of 16 onwards, the competition will continue as a table tennis tournament and the first and second in the league stage will not meet unless they both reach the final, on May 31 at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Marchetti He said that in the draw this Thursday there will be no situation that will violate the two rules that govern it: that teams of the same nationality do not face each other and that a club does not have more than two rivals from another federation: ” “Many people didn’t trust us in the past. We were able to show what the draw was and we chose an independent company to audit it. We feel the excitement that something new is coming.”
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
