For those who want to start following soccer, it can be intimidating trying to figure out where to begin. The list of leagues you can follow is seemingly endless: The Champions League, the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, and those are only some of the major European leagues! Of all those leagues, the arguably largest and most prestigious league is the Champions League, and because of this, it can also be one of the more confusing when it comes to trying to figure out how it works.
What makes the Champions League so popular is that it allows multiple teams from various countries in Europe to compete in it. Unlike the domestic leagues, such as the Premier League and La Liga, where only teams from within that one country can compete, the Champions League has a qualifying process that allows every league in Europe the chance to send a team to compete. In leagues like the Premier League, only British teams compete in it and in the case of La Liga, only Spanish teams compete in it. What can make the Champions League confusing is that qualifying for it depends on performance in your home league. Certain leagues have more top-tier competition, and the Champions League automatic qualifiers are weighted towards the top leagues. For example, the top four finishers in the Premier League receive a spot in the Champions League for the next season, whereas a smaller and less prestigious league, such as the Serbian SuperLiga, may only send one team into the Champions League qualifying.
Once all the qualifiers are completed, the 32 teams will be split into eight four-team groups. To ensure the groups are more balanced, UEFA utilizes a rating system to divide the teams into groups. The winners of the six highest rated leagues, which usually, but not always include the winners of the English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Portugese leagues, and the winners of the previous year’s Champions and Europa League will all be in separate groups. From there, the remaining teams are ranked and placed into tiers 2, 3, and 4. From there, one team from each tier is picked to complete a group.
#UCL Standings after Matchday 1… Who are the 3 best teams you've seen so far? pic.twitter.com/Uqh6qMebJJ
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) September 13, 2017
The teams will compete within their groups for the next 6 games, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the knockout stages. Priority is given to the team that won its group and who totaled the most points in the group. From the round of 16 onwards, teams compete against one another in a home and away aggregate style format, until a sudden-death championship game. For those who need more of an explanation on what in the world aggregate scoring is, we’ve got you covered.
The Champions League final is one of the most watched sporting events each year and has produced some of the most thrilling moments in soccer’s history. Whether it is a last minute header by a veteran star such as Didier Drogba to send the game to extra time or the “Miracle at Istanbul,” where Liverpool came back from a 3-0 hole to win, the Champions League final rarely fails to deliver on the sport’s biggest stage.
Picture Credit: Google Creative Commons Licenses, Pixabay
