Champions League Standings

Hooligan Soccer

·23 January 2025

Champions League Standings

Match Week 7 certainly was one hell of set of fixtures. Over two days, UEFA’s best clubs duked it out in the new qualifying round format. And it has been… awesome.

Day 1 summary
Day 2 summary

But now with the dust settled, fans nestled snug in their beds and only the lonely pundit left to furtively type out the last of the day’s reports with a wee dram of rum … we can share the standings and some analysis.

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Smooth Sailing (aka, the Top 8)

Automatically advance to Round of 16
Don’t compete in Playoff Round
Two fewer games = one big advantage
Only Liverpool and Barcelona are locked in
Arsenal and Inter have a mathematical chance of dropping, but that’s not likely gonna happen.

Top 8 of the Champions League (Source)

Raise the Spinnaker (aka, the Seeded Playoff Spots)

Everyone on this list is guaranteed a playoff spot
Higher placed clubs play lower placed ones on the Unseeded list (below) Example: positions 9 & 10 will play positions 23 & 24; 11 & 12 play 21 & 22, etc.
Aston Villa, Lille and Brest all dropped from the Top 8 this week.

Positions 9-16 of the Champions League (Source)

There’s a Storm Ahead, Cap’n (aka, the Unseeded Playoff Spots)

Juventus and Celtic are the only safe clubs on this section. No elimination for them.
PSV and Brugge can be safe with a draw or win.
All others really, really, really need to win to get in.