There was a whiff of novelty in Monaco on Thursday evening for the traditional drawing ceremony for the
Champions League. While the prestigious tournament always began with a group stage, this formula is well and truly over. Gone are the 8 groups of 4 teams, each club will have to face 8 opponents in a single group bringing together 36 teams.
This regular season will therefore be played in the form of a mini-European championship in which the first 8 will qualify directly for the round of 16. From 9th to 24th place, all teams will have to go through the play-off box, with a correlation applied to the ranking: the 9th will meet the 24th, the 10th the 23rd etc. Clubs finishing beyond 24th place will be eliminated from all European competitions. There is no longer a repechage in the Europa League.
Very heavy for PSG
If the competition format is changing, the draw ceremony also included some new features. The draw was indeed semi-automatic, with a computer to avoid too long a waiting time. The 4 hats were still relevant. Unsurprisingly, PSG was obviously the best placed French club, but it was not spared by the draw.
The PSG program:
PSG-Manchester City
Bayern Munich-PSG
PSG-Atletico Madrid
Arsenal-PSG
PSG-PSV Eindhoven
Salzburg-PSG
PSG-Girona
Stuttgart-PSG
Lille, Monaco and Brest
For their part, LOSC, ASM and Stade Brestois will be multiplying prestigious meetings. Placed in the 3rd pot, Lille will have a card to play for qualification, just like the club from the Principality. Brest’s program promises to be even more copious.
The Lille program:
Lille-Real Madrid
Liverpool-Lille
Lille-Juventus Turin
Atletico Madrid-Lille
Lille-Feyenoord Rotterdam
Sporting CP-Lille
Lille-Sturm Graz
Bologna-Lille
The Monaco program:
Monaco-Barcelona
Inter Milan-Monaco
Monaco-Benfica Lisbon
Arsenal-Monaco
Monaco-Red Star
Dynamo Zagreb-Monaco
Monaco-Aston Villa
Bologna-Monaco
The Brest program:
Brest-Real Madrid
Barcelona-Brest
Brest-Leverkusen
Shakhtar Donetsk-Brest
Brest-PSV Eindhoven
Salzburg-Brest
Brest-Sturm Graz
Sparta Prague-Brest
As a reminder, the final schedule for this first phase will be revealed this Saturday, with the order of matches for each club involved.
