Goodbye to the traditional Champions League draw: in 2024-25 it will be done by computer

The Champions League 2024-25 will be a complete new experience for fans. The much-talked-about change of format, which will see the group stage abandoned in favour of a single group, with the top teams reaching the last 16, will also lead to a different draw.

'The Guardian' has reported that it will no longer be carried out with the classic balls that separated seeded teams and clubs from the same country for the initial phase. According to this media, maintaining this way of defining the matches could take the draw up to 4 hours long.

Something that UEFA wants to avoid at all costs and, for this reason, it will be a computer programme that will define which of the 36 qualified teams will play which matches and where they will be held, which will be evenly distributed, as has been the case until now.

The starting point will be similar to the current one, as the clubs will be separated into four groups based on their UEFA ranking. However, each club will play two matches against opponents from each of the groups, one at home and one away, and that is where the complications begin. As crossings with opponents from the same country will still be avoided, the draw would become more and more complicated as the first teams are drawn.

UEFA tested how long a manual draw would take and discarded it after realising that it could take 3-4 hours. The only manual process, therefore, will be to draw the initial team from the first pool. After that, a computer programme made by a Hertfordshire company will choose the team's opponents and determine whether they will play at home or away against that club.

In addition, the top positions in this initial group will be very important, as the top 2 teams will not play each other until the final and the draw will be divided as in tennis. Thus, when the round of 16 is drawn, each team will know its path and possible opponents until the final.