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

[Manchester33]

In the league phase, teams cannot face opponents from their own country and can face a maximum of two sides from the same country.

How the feck does that work then if we were to play 2 spainsh teams how can 2 spainsh teams play each other?​

Because there are 5 Spanish teams in the competition, not 4.

 

[East Level 2]

Looking forward to the truly batshit mental shit takes from the armchair social media fans when we draw Girona.


Spot on. Almost said a truly open draw right the way through is the best way, too much money in fixing it now though and we've all become slowly accustomed and accepting to the fixing.

Can you imagine if we did the FA cup the same, weighting it heavily so that we almost guaranteed no all premier league ties until the quarters and no top 4 ties until the semi's. They'd be outcry across the country yet we have no issue with the champions league framed this way.

The FA Cup starts in July and even third and fourth tier clubs don't enter until November, so hardly a wide open draw.
The Champions League has always been about protecting the old G14 and their mates which generates more money. Or possibly it's about generating more money which is done by protecting the old guard.
Fans who believe you can support a team solely via the medium of television are the root of the problem, and UEFA (and the Premier League) take full advantage of this.

 

[MCFC Wirral]

I found last night’s league cup draw difficult enough so I’ll watch The Chase as usual and see who we get via social media / here.

 

[Stephen230]

In the league phase, teams cannot face opponents from their own country and can face a maximum of two sides from the same country.

How the feck does that work then if we were to play 2 spainsh teams how can 2 spainsh teams play each other?​

It’s not a group. Everyone has their own unique set of opponents. The teams we play won’t necessarily also play each other.

 

[uwe rosler 28]

Sorry but I can't work it out Italian French German

It’s not a group. Everyone has their own unique set of opponents. The teams we play won’t necessarily also play each other.

Yep now it makes sense thanks so we could say play Madrid and barca but they won't play each other

 

[East Level 2]

In the league phase, teams cannot face opponents from their own country and can face a maximum of two sides from the same country.

How the feck does that work then if we were to play 2 spainsh teams how can 2 spainsh teams play each other?​

They don't have to as there are no groups. We can play two random teams from Spain but the teams we play don't necessarily play each other.
Think of it like ending the league season after eight games. Everybody has played the same number of games but against random opponents. The only difference is that they've faced two teams from each pot graded by coefficient, which may or may not be based on current ability.

 

[hammocity]

In the league phase, teams cannot face opponents from their own country and can face a maximum of two sides from the same country.

How the feck does that work then if we were to play 2 spainsh teams how can 2 spainsh teams play each other?​

Because there's no groups this season, just one big league of 36, no team can play any team from their country in the initial league phase, however any team could play up to two teams from the same country but only once, home or away. The league position will determine the draw for the knockout phase IE the team finishing first plays the team finishing the lowest after teams placed 9-24 have played a qualifier.

 

[Stiff Little Wingers]

I much prefer this new format than the old fashioned straight knockouts. It's the same as people saying it should only be the 'champions' of each country.

I think it's great getting to watch City play against the best teams in Europe. Now we get to see eight different teams minimum each year. Loads of good away trips. Bigger matches from a neutral perspective too. What's not to like?

Some clubs will still get super tough draws, but there's always been luck involved.

I'm going into this optimistically as I think the group stages were quite stale. There's absolutely no chance clubs/UEFA will go back to straight knockouts (which I'm happy about too).

I tend to agree. No chance of straight knockouts ever coming back. But this new format is likely to be much more taxing and looking at pots 1 and 2, we are likely to have 4 games in which we are going to have to play well to win.
It’s also difficult to know how many points would make top 8 - I’m guessing 17/18 perhaps?
Finally, in the old format, if you play well for first 3 games you’re almost guaranteed to qualify but in this new format you have to do well over a much longer period. Despite how good we are, it’s not going to be easy.

 

[LangleyBlue1970]

Seems to me that the powers that be had a big fuck off night on the sauce/coke/LSD and fuck knows what else, conjured this up and then said fuck it, that’ll do.

 

[East Level 2]

I'm actually looking forward to the new format. Not because I think it's a great improvement but because I think it will be interesting.
And it will prevent a repeat of 2011-12 when we finished third in the group with 10 points while five teams went through with 8 or 9 points.