What is champions league

Lewandowski Bayern. Antony Ajax. MC Man. City Playing now. PAR Paris Playing now. LEI Leipzig Playing now. LIV Liverpool Playing now. POR Porto Playing now.

ACM Milan Playing now. AJX Ajax Playing now. BVB Dortmund Playing now. RM Real Madrid Playing now. INT Inter Playing now. SHF Sheriff Playing now. BAY Bayern Playing now. BAR Barcelona Playing now. SLB Benfica Playing now. DK Dynamo Kyiv Playing now.

MU Man. United Playing now. VLR Villarreal Playing now. ATA Atalanta Playing now. YB Young Boys Playing now. SBG Salzburg Playing now.

WOL Wolfsburg Playing now. SEV Sevilla Playing now. JUV Juventus Playing now. CHE Chelsea Playing now. ZEN Zenit Playing now. Real Madrid defeated Reims to win the title in the first tournament. In , the tournament expanded to 32 teams adding an additional round and kept the rest of the format the same.

The 32 teams were split into eight groups of four, with each team playing the other three teams in their respective group in a double round-robin format. The winner and runner-up of each group advanced to the round of 16, where the teams would then continue the usual knockout - stage process round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final.

How are the teams selected? The higher an association's coefficient, the more teams represent the association in the Champions League and the fewer qualification rounds the association's teams must compete in. Since the season, the UEFA Champions League offers two qualification "streams" for teams that do not receive direct entry to the tournament.

The two streams are divided between teams qualified by virtue of being a domestic league champion, and those qualified by virtue of being second through fourth in their domestic league. F ive teams from each qualifying stream earn a place in the group stage. The other 22 teams qualified automatically, either as the defending UCL champion, the defending UEL champion or through their respective domestic leagues.

Each of the top 12 ranked associations in the UEFA coefficients are guaranteed at least one spot, with more spots being allocated the higher a league's coefficient is. What happens once the 32 teams qualify? The 32 teams are split into four different "pots," with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on the following principles:. If either the Champions League or Europa League titleholders were one of the champions of the top six associations, the champions of the association ranked seventh, and possibly eighth, are also seeded into Pot 1.

How does the group stage work? The 32 teams compete in a double round-robin format called the group stage. The group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 16, the first round of the knockout phase. The teams are ranked by points. Three points are awarded for a win, one point is awarded for a tie and no points are awarded for a loss.

According to UEFA , if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied:. If after having applied criteria 1. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5. How does the knockout phase work? A draw takes place for the round of The 16 remaining clubs are split into two pots of eight, with one containing the winners of each respective group from the group stage and the other holding the runners-up. A club is drawn from each pot to determine what the matchups would be, with the conditions that a winner and runner-up who played in the same group in the previous round cannot be drawn together again and that clubs from the same domestic league cannot play one another.

The quarterfinal and semifinal draws do not have clubs split into separate pots.