UEFA Champions League, the draw: guide and possible opponents | OneFootball

The draw for the UEFA Champions League is edging closer, and it will revel Inter's opponents in the Round of 16 and which side of the draw Inter will be on. Inter, who finished the League Phase in fourth place, advanced directly to the Round of 16 and will play in March (4-5, 11-12). Inzaghi's side will face Feyenoord or the winner of the clash between Juventus and PSV (who will play their Second Legs on 19 February). After the play-off, the draw for the rest of the tournament will take place on 21 February and reveal Inter's opponents for the next stage of the tournament.

THE POSSIBLE OPPONENTS

The draw for the Round of 16, Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals of the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 will take place on Friday 21 February at 12:00 CET at the House of European Football in Nyon (Switzerland).

The teams who finished in the top-eight in the League Phase automatically qualify for the Round of 16 and will be joined by the winners of the play-offs for the direct elimination phase, a new twist in the 2024/25 edition of the tournament.

Following on from the play-offs for the direct elimination phase, the tournament will follow a structure in which the potential opponents for the Round of 16, Quarter-Final and Semi-Final are pre-determined based off of their standing in the table. Therefore, on 21 February Inter will not just discover their opponent for the Round of 16 (either Feyenoord/AC Milan or Juventus/PSV) but also which side of the draw, they will be positioned on.

In particular:

- if Inter are drawn against the winner of Feyenoord vs. AC Milan, they could face one of Bayern Munich, Celtic, Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen in the quarter-finals;

- if Inter are drawn against the winner of Juventus vs. PSV, the could face one of Manchester City, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen in the quarter-finals.

THE DATES OF THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

THE PLAY-OFFS FOR THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Brest vs. PSG First Leg 0-3; Second Leg 19/2 Manchester City vs. Real Madrid First Leg 2-3; Second Leg 19/2 Monaco vs. Benfica First Leg 0-1; Second Leg 18/2 Celtic vs. Bayern Munich First Leg 1-2; Second Leg 18/2 Club Brugge vs. Atalanta First Leg 2-1; Second Leg 19/2 Juventus vs. PSV First Leg 2-1; Second Leg 19/2 Sporting vs. Borussia Dortmund First Leg 0-3; Second Leg 19/2 Feyenoord vs. AC Milan First Leg 1-0; Second Leg 18/2

GUIDE FOR THE DRAW

Teams can face opponents from the same federation and teams they have already played against in the League Phase. ROUND OF 16:

Teams are paired based on their ranking in the league phase to form four seeded pairs (teams ranked 1 & 2, 3 & 4, 5 & 6, 7 & 8). Each pair is drawn against a knockout round play-off winner, whose position was determined in the previous draw. For the draw, four pots are prepared. The balls containing the names of each seeded pair are placed in their corresponding pots, labelled according to League Phase rankings. The draw assigns the bracket side for all seeded teams, starting with those ranked 7th/8th and ending with those in 1st/2nd place. A ball is drawn from the pot containing the 7th and 8th-ranked teams. The first team drawn is placed in the designated spot on the silver side of the bracket (see above). The other seeded team is then drawn and placed on the blue side. This process is repeated for the remaining seeded teams. In principle, the seeded teams play the second leg at home.

QUARTER-FINALS:

The draw is carried out to determine the order of matches (essentially which team plays at home in the first leg and which will play the second leg at home), as all potential opponents are known up to the final. For this draw, there are four pots which will be prepared, two for the silver side and two for the blue side of the bracket. Each pot contains two balls representing the Round of 16 winners from the representative bracket side. The first ball drawn indicates the team that will play the first leg at home. The second ball draw indicates the team that will play the second leg at home. The process is repeated with the remaining pots to complete the quarter-final pairings.

SEMI-FINALS:

For this draw, two pots are prepared. One for the silver side of the bracket, containing slips labelled "Winner QF 1" and "Winner QF 2" and then one for the blue side containing "Winner QF 3" and "Winner QF 4". The draw begins by shuffling and drawing the balls from the silver side of the pot: the first team drawn will play the first leg at home. The second team drawn will play the second leg at home. The process is then repeated for the blue side to complete the semi-final matchups. Since teams are already assigned to a bracket side through the knockout round play-off / Round of 16 draw, no draw is conducted for the final. The winner of the silver-side semi-final is designated as the nominal home team for the final.

CHAMPIONS LEAUGE: THE LEAGUE PHASE STANDINGS