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UEFA announce new Champions League rule

By Geoff Nichols

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UEFA announce new Champions League rule with seedings

UEFA have announced a significant change to the structure of the Champions League in Europe, starting in the 15/16 season. It is a rule change that will see Pot 1 of the draw filled by the holders along with 7 champions of their respective domestic leagues, such as the Premier League and La Liga champions.

It is a change away from the use of the UEFA coefficient, which was a points total based on a team’s performance in all European competitions over the previous five years. It didn;t take into account the domestic strengths of a team and also two teams from the same country could be in pot 1. For example, both Chelsea and Arsenal were placed in Pot 1 this year, whereas Premier League winners Manchester City were placed in Pot 2.

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The benefits of being in Pot 1 are clear, as you avoid the other heavyweights also in Pot 1. The nations from which the 7 champions will come from in 15/16 are Spain, Germany, England, France, Italy, Portugal and Russia. The only way two teams from the same nation can earn the relative safety of Pot 1 is through winning the Champions League this year.

This is what the pots would have looked like, had the newly introduced system have been in place:

Pot 1: Real Madrid (as holders); Atletico Madrid; Bayern Munich; Manchester City;Paris Saint-Germain; Benfica; Juventus; CSKA Moscow

Pot 2: Barcelona; Chelsea; Arsenal; Porto; Schalke 04; Borussia Dortmund; Shakhtar Donetsk; Basel

Pot 3: Zenit Saint Petersburg; Bayer Leverkusen; Olympiacos; Ajax; Liverpool; Sporting; Galatasaray; Athletic Bilbao

Pot 4 (unchanged): Anderlecht; Roma; APOEL; BATE; Ludogorets Razgrad; Maribor; Monaco; Malmo

The teams in bold would have benefited from the end of the UEFA coefficient, with teams like Manchester City and Juventus both rising into Pot 1. Chelsea and the other teams in italics are those who would have lost out had this system been implemented.

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