UEFA Champions League Road to the Final

UEFA Champions League Qualification

Teams from 54 different countries can participate in the Champions League qualification rounds. There are two paths, the League path and the Champions path, which comprise 11 and 43 European clubs respectively. The teams will play in the League or the Champions path depending on whether they are domestic cup winners, and which domestic league they play in.

All 54 European professional domestic leagues are ranked by the UEFA, and given UEFA coefficient points, and placed in a table. The points are given to leagues based on how teams in the leagues perform in the European competition. Clubs that reach the group stage, win the group stage, group runners up, and clubs that reach the round of 16, quarter finals, semi-finals and finals receive points based on how far they go. The top domestic leagues in the UEFA rankings are England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal and the Netherlands. The order has mostly remained the same for the past few years, with the exception of 2019-20 when Spain overtook England as being the strongest league in the rankings.

For the top four leagues, there are four Champions League competition proper berths, for the leagues ranked 5 and 6, the top two teams receive Champions League competition berths and a berth for the qualification rounds is given to the club that finished third in the league. The seventh ranked league receives one berth to the Champions League competition proper and two to the qualification rounds. The leagues 8 to 15 receive two berths to the Champions League qualification rounds. All of the other European leagues have one berth to the qualification rounds, meaning that there is a chance for the winners of any of the domestic leagues to try and get into the Champions League.

In the Champions path, there are five rounds of qualification, the preliminary round, the first, second and third qualifying rounds and lastly the Champions League Qualification playoffs.

Champions Path

Each round in the Champions path seeds clubs together from similar ranked leagues. The preliminary round puts the winners of the 55th to 52nd leagues together in a knockout playoffs. The winner of the preliminary round joins the 31 teams from the 51st to 20th ranked leagues. They are seeded together and play in the first qualification round, with the winners of the round proceeding to play in the second qualifying round. The 16th to 19th rated leagues join the 16 winners of the previous round, and the 10 winners of the second qualifying round proceed to the third qualifying round. The two winners of the 14th and 15th ranked leagues join the selection, and the 6 winners of this round go on to play in the playoffs final qualification round. They are joined by the winners of the 13th and 12th ranked leagues, and the four 4 winners of this round enter the Champions League group stage.

When teams lose in the second and third rounds of qualification, they join the following Europa League qualification round and the Europa League playoff round.

League Path

This path, also called the non-champions path, is far shorter than the Champions path, as it only involves teams from the higher ranked leagues. The league path starts later than the Champions path, which is why it starts with the second qualifying round (to keep with the continuity).

The second qualifying round is played between the teams that finished second in the leagues ranked 12th to 15th, the 2 winners of the round proceed to the following round. The following round is played between the 2 winners of the previous round and the runners up of the 7th to 11th ranked leagues, and the team that finished third in the 6th ranked league. They are seeded and play each other, and the winners then play in a playoffs final qualification round. The two winners of the playoffs enter the Champions League group stage.

UEFA Champions League Group Stage

The 32 teams that enter the group stage are seeded in a ceremony attended by the UEFA committee and a large selection of footballing legends, both past and present.

The formal seeding ceremony is preceded by a short presentation of awards that include the UEFA men’s and women’s player of the year as well as the men’s and women’s coach of the year. There are also awards for the men’s and women’s best goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and attacker.

The 32 teams are then put into different pots, and the names of the clubs are put into small balls that are drawn by two guest footballing legends. Once the seeding is complete, all the groups will be determined and the schedule for the matches will be prepared.

In the group stage, the groups of four all play in a double robin-round format, where they each play home and away against the other teams in their group. At the end of this stage, the winners and runners up of each group proceed to the elimination stage, and the teams that placed third go to the Europa League elimination stage.

UEFA Champions League Knockout Rounds

The teams are seeded and the winners of each group play against the runners up of another group. The round of 16 is played over two legs, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with two games on each day, and the 16 games split with 8 games over two weeks. The teams return after a break to play the second leg, and the winners by aggregate score move on to play in the quarter finals. If the two legs end in a draw, then the game continues to extra time followed by a penalty shootout.

From the quarterfinals, all draws are random, meaning clubs from the same league may be drawn against each other. The quarter finals and semi-finals are also played over two legs and are based on aggregate score. If teams are tied at the end of the second leg, they play extra time followed by a penalty shootout.

UEFA Champions League Finals

The Champions League final is one game that is played in a stadium that is already determined by the UEFA committee. The Champions League finals are one of the most watched sporting events each year. Tickets to the finals are very hard to come by, and definitely have to be bought well in advance, sometimes before fans know which teams will be playing. Despite this, the stadiums almost always have a full attendance.

The finals are an event in themselves, with guest musicians and a short show that precedes the football match. Guest musicians in the past have included Dua Lipa, the Black Eyed Peas, Imagine Dragons, Selena Gomez, Alicia Keys, Andrea Bocelli and more.

The finals are a moment of true euphoria or drama for players and fans, with winners able to secure a place on the podium of footballing greats. It is also an iconic moment for fans. At the end of the finals, the winners and their fans are instantly filled with joy, waiting for the whole team to walk up to the podium and lift the famous trophy. The losing side is always heartbroken, but in the true sportsmanship of the game many players can be seen comforting their opponents.

Conclusion

All fans want to see their team reach the finals, and many will place sports bets to back their team when playing European football. When betting on the Champions League, it is always important to consider how much you can afford to bet with. If you or someone you know may have problems with gambling, there are organisations such as gambleaware.co.uk that can provide help.