Champions League Draw - 29th August '24 | Opponents (pg69) | Fixtures (pg128)

[COAT_OF_ARMS]

Dates come out tomorrow right?

 

[69FACUPfinal]

PSG and Juventus away - not going to be easy. Liverpool have Madrid at home, lucky buggers

These aways are my concern. And the press whinging Dips have it hard, by god I'd rather play RM at home like they will be doing on 'one of those famous European nights at Anfield under the lights' than in the Bernabeu.

 

[Big Joe Corrigan]

Is this the order we play them?

No.

 

[Vic]

The playoff phase is played between the 9th and 24th placed teams so 9th plays 24th not 16th.

I've had it clarified by Dale Johnson from ESPN.

The groupings for potential last 16 opponents are:
- 1st, 2nd, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th are grouped together for the knockout phase. 2 of 15-18 will of course go out in the playoff round (this applies for the next 3 bullet points).
- 3rd, 4th, 13th, 14th, 19th, 20th are grouped together.
- 5th, 6th, 11th, 12th, 21st, 22nd.
- 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 23rd, 24th.

1st and 2nd will be on the opposite side of the bracket.

Glad that's been "clarified"...

 

[East Level 2]

You know what would be entertaining? After the playoff round you have the higher seeds PICK whom they wish to play. That would be a laugh. Instead of a draw you have a “draft”.

Ridiculous idea; I like it as it would be a way to liven things up.
Or you select opponents teams haven't played previously if there are any, just to add a bit of interest for fans. - That way I might get to see us play Benfica or PSV, the two previous winners we've not played who are in it (IIRC).
For info: The only other winners I've not seen us play are Olympique Marseille who we played during Covid, but haven't qualified this time.

 

[East Level 2]

Interesting but probably wouldn’t happen since they would have to advance in the playoff round(9-24) before facing a top seed.

But they'd know the few clubs they were likely to face in that play-off round and might try to engineer a result to get the weakest. It's a league though, and the spread of points from 9th to 16th and 17th to 24th could be so narrow that it would be impossible to throw the game to guarantee an easy draw.
However, if a team is winning by one goal going into stoppage time and conceding an equaliser would give them weaker play-off opponents, then it could be Harry McGuire time.

 

[kippax_blueboy]

When are the actual dates and kick-offs of the games announced?

 

[Fred_Quimby]

When are the actual dates and kick-offs of the games announced?

Hopefully today, Saturday.

 

[Vic]

Almost.

1st plays 16th or 17th (depending on which wins the playoff game).
2nd plays 15th or 18th.
3rd plays 14th or 19th.
4th plays 13th or 20th.
5th plays 12th or 21st.
6th plays 11th or 22nd.
7th plays 10th or 23rd.
8th plays 9th or 24th.

So basically if there is an upset in the playoff round and there probably will be, 1st won't have the easiest game.

That's why I see little difference between 1st and 8th.

View attachment 130059

Almost. 1st and 2nd play any one of the middle ranked teams in the league (finishing 15th-18th). The play offs are between 15th and 16th, and 17th and 18th, then the winners of each could be in "left" or "right" with 1 or 2.

In theory, you'd expect the teams that came 9th or 10th to beat the teams that came 23rd or 24th, so the teams finishing 7th or 8th in the league should be playing one of the two teams that just missed out on the top 8.

 

[MCFC1993]

Almost. 1st and 2nd play any one of the middle ranked teams in the league (finishing 15th-18th). The play offs are between 15th and 16th, and 17th and 18th, then the winners of each could be in "left" or "right" with 1 or 2.

In theory, you'd expect the teams that came 9th or 10th to beat the teams that came 23rd or 24th, so the teams finishing 7th or 8th in the league should be playing one of the two teams that just missed out on the top 8.

Yeah I've updated it in a later post.