Champions League draws explained: How it works, format and more | OneFootball

Highlights

The Champions League is the pinnacle of club football, famous for players walking onto the pitch as mere humans and leaving it as legends. It's what football is all about as Europe's greatest teams go head-to-head in a series of group-stage matches and knockout ties, all ending in the final at the end of the season.

The Champions League final is one of the most watched sporting events in the world, with an estimated total of 400 million people watching the event in 2023. That's roughly five percent of the world! However, to get to that stage, they must beat a series of teams which is all decided via the draw. It's pinned into fans' diaries every year, knowing the potential European away days and giants travelling to face your team at home is what dreams are made of. Trips to Amsterdam, Paris or Milan may await, whilst teams may be sent to the depths of Eastern Europe. Red Star Belgrade are famous for their hostile and frightening atmosphere that is bound to shock even the world's most composed and greatest players.

Starting all the way in the middle of the summer, the draws bring together the early qualifying rounds as teams from all parts of Europe start their journeys. They might be from the Faroe Islands, Wales or even Bulgaria, but the draws are just as important for them as they are for the big teams. The group stage is strongly considered one of the most significant days in the football calendar, whilst the later draws for the knockout stages show if the run to the final - held at Wembley Stadium in 2024 - is truly a possibility or just a mere fragment of fans' imagination. The anticipation as the balls are picked up out of the bowls is palpable for fans, knowing their happiness in the week might well truly depend on who they face. It's what football's all about. It's not just fans that look forward to it; players do as well, knowing the draw can decide if they have a high chance of leaving the pitch as legends or not.

Champions League draw and how it works.

Draw dates for the 2023/24 season

The Champions League route to the final is decided over numerous dates during the course of the season - as outlined by the table below. The quarter-final and semi-final draws take place on the same day, allowing teams to know their path to the final once they win their Round of 16 tie. Meanwhile, the round of 16 matches are played over the course of four weeks, whilst the quarter-finals and semi-finals take place over the course of two back-to-back weeks. It creates an interesting prospect for teams as they look to win the most coveted prize in European club football.

How to watch the Champions League draw

Every Champions League draw is streamed live on UEFA's official website, uefa.com. It is free for anyone around the world to access.

The official broadcasters in each country also have the rights to show the draw. In the UK, TNT Sports has the rights to Champions League games. For the Round of 16 draw, they are showing it live on TNT Sports 1 from 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM GMT. You will be able to access that on live TV or on the go with their app.

Paramount+ has the rights in the United States of America and will be showing the draw live across the country.

Starting with the Round of 16 draw, which is relatively simple to work out. The 16 teams that qualified (1st and 2nd in their group) are drawn into two pots - seeded and unseeded. Seeded teams can not face one another whilst the same logic applies for two unseeded teams. Clubs always see the group stage as an important step on the road to the final, knowing they want to face an unseeded team in the Round of 16 by winning their group.

The seeded teams - the group winners - will be away in the first leg, with ties to be played on the 13th, 14th, 20th and 21st of February. Return legs will be played on the 5th, 6th, 12th and 13th of March in 2024, with the seeded teams at home. Seeded teams always have the second leg at home because it provides them with an advantage in the event that the second leg goes to extra time - or even penalties.

The draw starts with UEFA drawing an unseeded team - runners-up in the group stages - from the bowl before it is worked out who they can face. From another bowl, UEFA will pick at random any eligible team that can face them. In the Round of 16, teams can not face another team from the same national federation. This process is repeated for all eight ties, making sure they are all done correctly and fairly.

It's a similar process for the quarter-final and semi-final draws. However, in these two steps, there is no seeding. The eight teams - in the quarter-finals - can face anyone, including teams from the same national federation as them. In the semi-finals, four balls are drawn at random to decide who will face one another for a place in the final. This is done immediately after the quarter-final draw, so the path to Wembley - in 2024's case - is clear from early on.

Rules in the Champions League draw

No English teams drawn together in the R16

There are several rules that UEFA must follow in the first knockout draw - the Round of 16. Teams from the same national federation can not play one another until the quarter-finals. For example, Arsenal could not face Manchester United in the Round of 16 because they both play in the Premier League.

Clubs can also not face teams they met in the group stages. For example, in the 2023/2024 season, both Arsenal and PSV qualified first and second in the same group. They would not be allowed to be drawn together in the Round of 16, but they could be drawn together in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Each knockout tie is played at both teams' home stadium - as long as it meets UEFA requirements - whilst extra time and penalties are used if the tie is level after 180 minutes. The away rule no longer exists, which previously saw teams progress on the same number of goals if they had scored more goals away from home.

However, before the draw for the knockout stages, teams are drawn for the qualifying rounds and group stages. The seedings for the draws are decided in accordance with the club coefficient rankings established at the beginning of the season and with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee - as outlined in UEFA's regulation book. The first seed always comprises the titleholder, the UEFA Europa League titleholder and the six best domestic champions as ranked by UEFA. In the 2023/2024 season, the eight teams were: Real Madrid, Sevilla, Manchester City, Barcelona, Napoli, Bayern Munich, PSG and Benfica.

The format and draw for the Champions League used to be drastically different. The inaugural tournament had just 16 teams competing in 1955 in four knockout rounds (first round, quarterfinals, semifinals and final). In 1960, the tournament expanded to 32 teams (adding an extra round) and kept the rest of the format the same, whilst it wasn't until 1992 that the traditional group stage was added. It will change again from 2024/2025 with a new 'Swiss model' system.