UEFA has released a video explaining the draw rules and format for the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League this season. UEFA officials have emphasized that the “降级” system will be eliminated for all three European competitions.
The Champions League draw format has been widely discussed. The draw rules for the Europa League and Conference League are generally similar to the Champions League: Participating teams are divided into four tiers for the draw, and opponents are determined through a combination of human and computer selection (Champions League and Europa League teams will play four opponents in eight matches, four at home and four away; Conference League teams will play three opponents in six matches, three at home and three away). This so-called “first stage” replaces the traditional group stage. The top eight teams will advance to the Round of 16, while the 9th to 24th ranked teams will compete in a two-legged knockout round for the remaining eight Round of 16 spots. Two avoidance principles are followed during the first stage (teams from the same league will not meet in the first stage, and each team can play a maximum of two teams from the same league in the first stage).
UEFA has specifically emphasized that the “降级” phenomenon will only occur during the qualification phase this season (for example, teams eliminated from Champions League qualification will be relegated to Europa League qualification, and so on). However, this phenomenon will not occur in the main tournament phase. This is a significant change from previous years.
As is well-known, last season, third-place teams from the Champions League groups were relegated to the Europa League; third-place teams from the Europa League groups were relegated to the Conference League. Olympiacos, the Conference League champion last season, was a team that was relegated from the Europa League. In previous years, there were even unique cases like Sevilla, who often participated in the Champions League group stage, secured third place, then competed in the Europa League and challenged for the championship, winning a Champions League spot through this process, creating a closed loop.
However, due to the significant changes in the Champions League and Europa League formats this season, there will no longer be relegation from the main tournament phase onwards. Teams participating in the main tournaments of the Champions League and Europa League will either advance or be eliminated, with no possibility of “降级 participation” anymore.
This article is from a user submission and does not represent the views of Soccer News Pick. If you repost it, please indicate the source: https://www.soccernewspick.com/uefa-europa-league/24708.html
