The UEFA Champions League is an annual club association football tournament organized by the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) and is composed of the top division European clubs. It is one of the most prestigious soccer tournaments in the world and the most prestigious club competition in European soccer.
Point System:
Since the 2009-10 season, the UEFA Champions League offers two qualification “streams” for teams that do not receive direct entry to the tournament. The two streams are divided between teams qualified by being a domestic league champion, and those qualified being second through fourth in their domestic league. Five teams from each qualifying stream earn a place in the group stage. All the teams I’ve mentioned in my project are qualified by the rules stated above.
The 32 teams are split into four different “pots,” with the restriction that teams from the same league could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on the following principles:
• Pot 1 contains the Champions League titleholders, the Europa League titleholders and the champions of the top six leagues based on their UEFA coefficients. If either the Champions League or Europa League titleholders were one of the champions of the top six associations, the champions of the association ranked seventh, and possibly eighth, are also seeded into Pot 1.
• Pots 2, 3 and 4 contain the remaining teams, seeded based on their 2018 UEFA club coefficients.
Then, a team is drawn from each pot until there are eight groups of four.
The 32 teams compete in a double round-robin format called the group stage. The group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 16, the first round of the knockout phase. The teams are ranked by points. Three points are awarded for a win, one point is awarded for a tie and no points are awarded for a loss.
A draw takes place for the round of 16. The 16 remaining clubs are split into two pots of eight, with one containing the winners of each respective group from the group stage and the other holding the runners-up.
In the final, which is only one match, if the score is level at the end of normal time, extra time is played. If the score is still level after extra time, the winner is decided by a penalty shootout.
UEFA Champions League Records:
- Real Madrid has one the most Champions League Titles.
- Manchester City has won the previous UCL (2022-2023)