UEFA Champions League Explained

hello everyone the snowman here and today I've got an instructional video talking about the wafer champions league I want to go over what exactly the Champions League is I want to go over how you qualify for it then the format for the competition it is the biggest annual football competition of the year and let's break it down so we'll start off with the question what is the UEFA Champions League well it is an annual Club football competition organized by UEFA so dissecting that into pieces annual takes place once a year clubs we're dealing with club teams not international teams and UEFA that means that it is only European clubs this competition contested by the best European teams this competition founded in 1955 used to be known as the European Cup but it was completely rebranded in 1992 now we know it today as the UEFA Champions League and yeah we are battling here for European supremacy so let's talk qualification really in its final stage it is a 32 team competition just like the World Cup but we have some whittling down to get there so how do clubs around Europe qualify for the Champions League well it's primarily based upon how you finished in your own domestic league the prior year so each league is allocated a certain number of qualifying spots based on how good their league is that's determined by the UEFA coefficient basically the coefficient compiles how well the teams in each league have performed in continental competitions the last five years ranks the league's accordingly so as I pull up the the most recent UEFA coefficient here you can see Spain is currently on top also in the top four you've got the English Premier League German Bundesliga Italy's Serie those four leagues are considered the best in Europe it's very rare they're not one two four in the coefficient rankings so each of those leagues get four places in the following UCL season so for example a team say Arsenal could finish fourth in the English Premier League that would be enough for them to qualify for the Champions League the next season however if a team plays in France I say Leon if they finish in fourth place they would not make the cut for champs league that's because Ligue 1 in France only gets three slots so Leona instead qualify for the Europa League a less prestigious European competition but anyways you can see France and Portugal their leagues get three slots handful of other leagues get two qualifying places countries like Russia Belgium Netherlands Ukraine cerca de all have pretty good leagues and then all the other leagues in Europe get one spot so for example if you're a team in Azerbaijan the only way you can even think about qualifying for the UEFA Champions League is by winning your entire league the year before so it's also important just because you see that a league has one Champions League spot to offer it doesn't necessarily mean that their league champion will make the final 32 team group stage in the Champions League that's because only 26 of the 32 teams qualified for the final group stage automatically the other six spots are decided in late July and August through multiple playoff rounds there's some extra qualifying stages and basically we have these extra playoff stages before the start of the season to give the teams from the lesser leagues a chance to qualify but in reality it's very rare you're gonna see teams like the league champion from say Luther Way Nia or Armenia make the final group stage over a fourth place team from Italy or Germany because those teams tend to have much better players also important to note two spots are reserved for the reigning champions league and reigning europa league champions they have to make the the Champions League so even if say you win the Champions League you only finish 10th in the Premier League then the next season that's okay you're safe you still got a spot in the UCL the next year alright so talking about format now we've got our 32 teams they are randomly split up into eight groups of four pretty similarly to the World Cup one thing about the random draw though one exception you cannot be drawn into the same group as a team from your own country so for example you will never see Real Madrid and Barcelona in the same Champions League group that's because they both play in Spain's La Liga but anyways we've got our eight groups of four teams and that is an example of the from the 2019 2020 UCL season group stage typically takes place from September to December so the first half of the soccer year they play these Champions League games during the middle of the week typically because most leagues play their own matches on the weekend and all 32 teams are guaranteed to play at least six group stage games you play everyone in your group once at home and once on the road after the six group stage games then we tally up the standings and the eight group winners along with the eight runner-up so the top 16 teams will advance to the knockout stage so for the round of 16 we have another random draw where each of the eight group winners are paired up against the runner-ups and a couple of exceptions here again in the round of 16 you cannot face off against a team from your own nation also a rule here you cannot play against the team from your own group so like PSG and Real Madrid they just played in the group stage twice they will not be meeting up in the round of 16 because of that knockout stage games are two leg matches so a little bit different from the single-elimination nature of the World Cup it's a one match at home one game on the road and whoever scores the most goals over those two legs will advance to the quarterfinals quarterfinals then another draw for the remaining 8 teams this time you can be drawn against the team from your own nation or own group so no exceptions here it's a completely random draw for the quarters and anything goes there more two leg play offs then to decide our final four teams semifinals final 4 will face off in the same manner and then for the final it is a little bit different than the other knockout stage games for the final because it is not two legs it's just a single 90 minute game at a neutral location and it rotates where it is every year it's typically just some major European city the final two teams will play for the title and of course and will go to extra time or penalties if necessary be at just one match in the final to decide the Champions League winner see I think we covered everything about what the Champions League is how to qualify for it and what the format is if you have any questions please leave a comment if you enjoyed this video or found it informational please subscribe to the Snowman sports media for more soccer content and thanks a lot I really appreciate you watching Cheers

Channel: Snowman Sports Media

Views: 193,639

Keywords: UEFA, Champions, League, Champions League, Explained, Qualification, Format, How, What, When, Game, Match, Schedule, Group, Knockout, Stage, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Liverpool, Juventus, PSG, Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Lewandowski, Preview, Europa League, Coefficient, Country, Highlights, Recap, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, FIFA, Football, Soccer, Instructional, Tutorial, Explanation, Work, Goal, Final

Id: 4AsLXuXzhrg

Length: 6min 42sec (402 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 04 2020