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

JGL07 said:
The problem is that there are three organisations: the EPL, UEFA, and FIFA.

The EPL are unlikely to want to reduce the number of League matches as beyond the top six (or so), most teams fear relegation if the league was to be reduced to 18 teams as per the Bundesliga.

UEFA have just increased the Group Stages of the CL from six to eight matches.

FIFA have introduced an expanded World Club Cup taking place every four years. They have also tried to make the World Cup run every two years rather than every four years.

Put together this is unsustainable.

There could be up to 64 matches for English teams in club competitions every season. Every four years there could be up to another 7 matches for the World Club Cup.

That is before you factor in all the international matches for the European Championships and World Cup, qualifiers and finals not to mention the Nations League. There will be finals running every second year adding to the pressure.

The problem is that none of the three organisations appear likely to back off.

Tinkering around by, say, scrapping the EFL Cup will not solve this problem. Short of a breakaway league, the only solution is larger playing squads and ruthless rotation.
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Well, if I was a player I'd be thinking how many competitions I can win, clubs will have to pick what cup to concentrate on much like the league cup and FA Cup in England. More people on earth = more players to choose from, City have plenty of players to pick from including academy and marginalised players.
 
cptaidan88 said:
Yes, and probably quite likely as we're in a pot with two Spanish sides (who can't play Girona).

Suspect the football gods will have us play them, Leipzig play Salzburg, and United play Nice in the Europa League.
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I believe you can play teams from your nation this year
 
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Gray said:
With one match to play (CL Final) the new format champions league is beginning to take shape.

We will be in the highest seeded pot of nine teams along with Bayern, Real Madrid, PSG, Liverpool. Inter Milan, Dortmund, Leipzig and Barcelona.

Under the new format we will play two of those teams along with two seeded 10 to 18. two seeded 19 to 27 and two seeded 28 to 36.

As England has four qualified teams we can also play one of the other three Arsenal, Liverpool or Aston Villa.

You play eight league matches four at home and four away against eight different teams.

With our luck we will probably end up with Bayern, Real Madrid, Athletico Madrid and Arsenal plus four others.

Points are awarded as at present and the top eight teams out of the 36 go through to the knock out stages.

Teams placed 9th to 16th play the teams placed 17th to 24th on a two legged system with the higher ranked teams playing the return leg at home. The winners then play one of the already qualified teams home and away in the first knock out round.

This adds an extra two matches to the already insane schedule, no wonder players are contemplating going on strike.
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Can you fix this as you can’t play teams from same country?
www.uefa.com

UEFA Club Competitions 2024/25 onwards: new league phase draw procedures explained

The new format means there will be alterations to the draws, staged at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo on 29 and 30 August, which we explain here.
www.uefa.com
 
117 M34 said:
Is there any benefit to finishing 1st compared to 8th?
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Technically yes. The round of 16 is seeded so say we finish first we would play the 16th seeded team. 2nd would play 15th and so on.

Not all the big teams are guaranteed to finish in the top 8 though so potentially there could be some really big ties in the round of 16.

For example say real Madrid are second and Barcelona finish as the 15th seed they would play each other in the round of 16
 
kippaxwarrior said:
Technically yes. The round of 16 is seeded so say we finish first we would play the 16th seeded team. 2nd would play 15th and so on.

Not all the big teams are guaranteed to finish in the top 8 though so potentially there could be some really big ties in the round of 16.

For example say real Madrid are second and Barcelona finish as the 15th seed they would play each other in the round of 16
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Suppose that is good because it means all teams will have to keep trying to win even if they've qualified for the top 8 with a game to play.
 
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