💫 UEFA confirm major changes to Champions League draw | OneFootball

The old Champions League draw format is now no more.

UEFA have confirmed changes to the system for the upcoming season to coincide with the arrival of the new 36-team league phase which will make its debut.

For those who need a reminder, more information is here on how the revamped competition will work, but essentially clubs face off in one large league, competing in eight games (four at home and four away with no repeat fixtures), with the top eight places going directly into the last 16 and a play-off round between teams finishing 9-24th to determine who will join them, while the rest drop out of European competition entirely.

As a result, the previous manual format of the Champions League draw is no longer feasible (over 1,000 balls and several hours would be required to do so), with the draw in Monte Carlo on August 29 set to feature some big changes.

All 36 teams will firstly be manually drawn using physical balls before an automated software system will randomly draw eight opponents across the four pots, which will be immediately viewable on the screens in the Grimaldi Forum and on television for home viewers.

The draw will begin with Pot One, assigning eight opponents to all nine teams, and then continue in descending order until all competing clubs have been assigned their opponents.

UEFA also ensure that the software ‘will guarantee total randomness within the framework of the draw stipulations’ – namely country protection and teams being unable to face more than two opponents from the same association.

Although the games will then be known, the finalised fixture list will not be announced until August 31, to ensure no calendar clashes with teams in the Europa League and Conference League playing in the same cities.

The changes also apply to both the Europa League and Conference League too.