Report: Champions League Swiss Model and Digital Draw | OneFootball

Champions League Draw: The New Swiss Model and UEFA’s Digital Transformation

As the new Champions League season approaches, excitement and intrigue surround the competition’s latest format – the Swiss Model. UEFA’s flagship club competition has undergone significant changes, bringing a fresh dynamic to the tournament. With more teams, more matches, and a new digital approach to the draw, the Champions League promises to be more competitive and entertaining than ever. Let’s delve into what this new era means for the competition, the draw, and the teams involved.

Swiss Model: A New Era for the Champions League

The Swiss Model, inspired by the chess world, is set to replace the traditional group-stage format we’ve grown accustomed to. Gone are the eight groups of four; instead, we have a single league table, where all 36 participating teams will compete. This shift introduces a league phase, where each team plays eight matches against different opponents rather than facing the same three teams twice. This means fans can expect to see more high-profile clashes earlier in the tournament.

UEFA has increased the number of participating teams from 32 to 36, leading to a total of 189 matches, up from 125 in the previous format. This expansion reflects UEFA’s desire for more competitive fixtures from the start. By allowing teams from pot one (the big names) to face each other earlier in the tournament, the Swiss Model aims to provide more engaging matchups throughout the competition.

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In addition, the new format gives teams from pot four more opportunities to pick up points by playing against sides from the same pot among their eight matches. This adjustment seeks to level the playing field, allowing lower-seeded teams a better chance of progressing in the tournament.

The changes also impact the knockout stage. After the league phase is complete in late January, the top eight teams will qualify directly for the 16-team knockout round. Meanwhile, teams finishing between ninth and 24th will battle it out in two-leg play-offs for the remaining spots. Once the round of 16 begins, seeding will ensure that the top two teams from the league phase cannot face each other until the final.

Draw Format: Embracing Digital Efficiency

The introduction of the Swiss Model has brought about a significant change in the draw process. No longer will we see the traditional method of teams being drawn into groups. Instead, UEFA has opted for a digital approach to streamline the process.

This year’s draw will involve four pots of nine teams, all seeded by their UEFA coefficient, except for the reigning Champions League title holders, Real Madrid. However, the most notable change is the automation of the draw. While the 36 teams will still be manually drawn on stage, their eight opponents will be determined by a button press, instantly displaying the matchups and home/away fixtures.

This digital transformation aims to save time and reduce the complexity of the draw. UEFA estimates that manually conducting the entire draw would require around 1,000 balls across 36 bowls and take over three hours to complete. By contrast, the digital draw is expected to take around 35 minutes, similar to previous years.

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Tobias Hedtstuck, UEFA’s head of club competitions and calendar, highlighted the efficiency of the new system: “Based on rehearsals we have done, we are expecting some 35 minutes of a draw, which is exactly what we had before.”

Ensuring Fairness: UEFA’s Safeguards Against Bias

One of the key concerns with a digital draw is ensuring transparency and fairness. UEFA has taken significant steps to address these concerns. The software for the draw is provided by AE Live, a company with extensive experience in live sport and technology solutions. AE Live has been tasked with developing and testing the software over the past year.

To add an extra layer of assurance, UEFA has appointed global financial services company Ernst and Young to audit and monitor the software’s development. Ernst and Young will also observe the draw operations, ensuring that everything runs smoothly and according to the rules.

Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA’s director of football and deputy general secretary, emphasised the importance of transparency: “That’s why we appointed an external company (Ernst and Young), to confirm not only that the software has been properly set up, and is purely random while respecting the couple of rules that we have, but also to observe the implementation and application of the software, as well as the procedures on the day of the draw.”

Ernst and Young will produce a report after the draw, further reinforcing confidence in the process. The company stated: “In our opinion, in all material aspects, the software source code of AE Live selects and allocates football teams randomly and correctly, in accordance with the league-phase digital draw procedure defined by UEFA.”

Potential Risks: Cybersecurity and Fail-Safes

As with any digital process, there are potential risks, including cybersecurity threats. AE Live has implemented several measures to mitigate these risks and ensure the draw’s security. The draw will be conducted in a closed environment, with no external access allowed before or during the process. This is intended to prevent any potential cyber-attacks, such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that could overwhelm the system.

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Dave Gill, AE Live’s chief technology officer, explained the precautions taken: “Access to our code, and our code repository, are controlled through multi-factor identification. It’s a very limited amount of people who have access to our code. We’ve just conducted some penetration testing from an external third-party provider to make sure that we are, as a business, as secure as we can be.”

In addition to cybersecurity measures, UEFA has built-in fail-safes to ensure the draw remains feasible and avoids any ‘deadlock’ scenarios, where teams cannot be drawn against suitable opponents. The software assesses the feasibility of each draw and ensures that all rules are followed before revealing the matchups. Two independent external checking systems will also confirm that the draw remains feasible and fair.

What to Expect: Fixture Announcements and Key Dates

For fans eager to plan their trips to support their teams, the draw will reveal the opponents, but not the specific dates of each fixture. UEFA plans to announce the dates on Saturday, August 31, taking into account logistical and security considerations for the Europa League and Conference League draws.

Marchetti explained the rationale behind the delayed fixture announcement: “The calendar will be decided based on different software; based on hundreds, if not thousands of constraints that we have, such as clubs who play in the same cities, or even the same stadium.”

UEFA also aims to ensure a balanced calendar, avoiding situations where a club faces two top-seeded teams in consecutive matchdays. This careful scheduling is designed to maintain the competition’s excitement and fairness throughout the league phase.

Fans can follow the draw live on UEFA’s website and through various broadcast partners, including TNT Sports in the UK and Paramount in the United States. The draw will take place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo, with proceedings beginning at 5pm BST on Thursday, August 29.