Opponents Await Sk Sturm and Salzburg in the Champions League

Everything is new in the upcoming Champions League season. This is not only because two Austrian clubs, Salzburg and double winners Sturm, will be taking part in the premier class for the first time. The format of the most important European club competition is also presenting itself in a whole new light.

Instead of the previous 32 teams, this season there will be 36 teams, which come from 16 different nations. This means that the previous “classic” mode, in which two teams were promoted to the knockout phase in eight groups of four, will no longer be used. Instead, all 36 participants will be grouped together in a single table. Instead of the previous six games, each club will have eight games in the new league phase. Instead of two games against just three different clubs, as before, each of the 36 participating teams will have eight games against eight different opponents in the league phase. Four of these will be played at home and four away.

Opponents Await Sk Sturm and Salzburg in the Champions League.

Each team is drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots. At the end of the league phase, the teams in positions one to eighth in the overall table are guaranteed a place in the round of 16. The teams in positions nine to 24 play in an intermediate round for a place in the round of 16. For the clubs in positions 25 to 36, the European Cup season is over. Unlike in the past, “defectors” from one international competition to another (Champions League to Europa League or Europa League to Conference League) are no longer possible.

The draw for the new Champions League will take place today at 6 p.m. (Sky & Canal+ live) in Monte Carlo. Because the expansion of the premier class and the new format would have required more than 1,000 balls and 36 pots, a computer will now determine the pairings. Starting with pot one, the clubs will be drawn manually one after the other – immediately afterwards, the computer will assign each team its eight opponents. This process will be repeated until all 36 teams know their opponents. Games against clubs from the same country are excluded before the knockout phase, and each team may only play against two teams from one country.

SK Sturm, which plays its home games in Klagenfurt, will, like all other participants, receive a record entry fee of 18.62 million euros. There is an additional 700,000 euros per point. With the income from the marketing pool and ticket sales, the Graz team will probably earn more than 25 million euros in the premier league. For the black and whites, this is more than just a warm shower of money.