The basics to know are that before if you were in Pot 1 you would be drawn in a group with one team from Pot 2, one team from Pot 3 and one team from Pot 4.
Now, regardless of which pot you are placed in, you will be drawn eight fixtures with two teams from each pot - four home games, four away games determined randomly by a computer algorithm.
So for example, if you were Man City… your group stage fixtures based on last year’s format and this year’s pots might have looked like this:
Your fixtures under this new format might look like this instead
Bayern Munich (H)
Barcelona (A)
Benfica (H)
Atletico Madrid (A)
Lille (H)
Dinamo Zagreb (A)
Stuttgart (H)
Brest (A)
It’s a bit of a departure from traditional formats we’re used to as football fans but doing a draw this way is actually quite common in chess tournaments where it works very well to create a fairly balanced table at the conclusion of all the matches. Good teams cannot hide from other good teams until the knockout stages under this format - if you’re Man City or Real Madrid, you are guaranteed two games against other Pot 1 teams.
I’m looking forward to seeing more high profile games in the early rounds of the competition. Wouldn’t have seen a hypothetical Man City v Bayern Munich group/league stage match under the old format.
Just continually squeezing every last penny they can out of the footballs soul, trying their best to appeal to the casual and international fan. Dont be fooled by UEFA's strong reaction to European Super League, if they could get away with it they would.
This new format really takes away the excitement (of both the draw and the actual games)
Disagree - ready to move away from Man City playing the kids in their last two group games because they already qualified…
The draw is difficult to keep up with but the football should be better and once we get to the knockouts it’s the same anywah
They'll still get enough points to qualify early and rest players.
There is incentive to “win” the league and get a seed to avoid other strong teams in the early rounds of the knockouts.
If City play kids in the last game and lose, they hypothetically drop 2nd to 5th & they’ll have to play a top 4 team in the quarter final instead of a semi final.
Comments
Benfica (H) & (A)
Lille (H) & (A)
Stuttgart (H) & (A)
Your fixtures under this new format might look like this instead
Bayern Munich (H)
Barcelona (A)
Benfica (H)
Atletico Madrid (A)
Lille (H)
Dinamo Zagreb (A)
Stuttgart (H)
Brest (A)
It’s a bit of a departure from traditional formats we’re used to as football fans but doing a draw this way is actually quite common in chess tournaments where it works very well to create a fairly balanced table at the conclusion of all the matches. Good teams cannot hide from other good teams until the knockout stages under this format - if you’re Man City or Real Madrid, you are guaranteed two games against other Pot 1 teams.
And supporting written article if you prefer
https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/40894613/champions-league-mock-draw-how-new-format-plays-out
Brest and Girona are making their debut appearances in European football.
https://x.com/championsleague/status/1829192873188733233?s=46&t=ynww82GMl7VKBjthBflU0g
Won't get going at all until the knockouts.
The draw is difficult to keep up with but the football should be better and once we get to the knockouts it’s the same anywah
They’re going too fast!!
If City play kids in the last game and lose, they hypothetically drop 2nd to 5th & they’ll have to play a top 4 team in the quarter final instead of a semi final.