The 2024-25 competition has adopted the 'Swiss model'
So intricate and complex, in fact, that Uefa has had to get a computer program to run the draw, which would otherwise have taken over three hours, based on trials.Your team is going to be in giant, 36-team league table, instead of the traditional four-team group stage, and at the end of a mini-season, the top eight teams will qualify for the knockouts. It is known as the Swiss model, taken from chess. Sounds simple enough.
Who your team will face won’t be decided by someone pulling small balls out of a hat, or a bowl, or a lovely, soft svelte bag. But an algorithm.There will be a person manually picking the first team out of the top seed pot but then a computer will take over and do the rest, almost instantly. Probably until Uefa realises that the computer can also pick the first team, and just let the computer do it all.
The co-efficient system has been controversial, because it favours the bigger, more established clubs, effectively making the Champions League easier for them.
The algorithm, which is now hugely influential in the entirety of European competitions, operates under certain principles. Clubs can’t face opponents in their own country in the 36-team league group stage. They can only play one club from each country.Uefa believes the Swiss model will introduce more unpredictability, pit more leading sides against one another earlier in the competition and, therefore, produce better games.
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