The European Football Association (UEFA) decided on Thursday to resort to drawing the draws for the competitions it organizes for clubs through automation.
The union announced that it will rely on automation to draw the group stage draws for the Champions League, the Europa League and the European Conference League instead of drawing them manually.
The draws for these tournaments are scheduled to be held on August 29 and 30 in Monaco.
This comes in light of the large number of clubs participating in the three tournaments, as each competition includes 36 teams playing in a single-round league, with the aim of occupying the first eight places that qualify directly for the round of 16.
Each team plays 8 matches against 8 different teams to face two different teams from each level, with one match at home and the other away.
After the first eight teams qualify for the round of 16, the teams from ninth to 24th place play play-off matches to complete the list of qualifiers for this round.
This rule does not apply to the European Conference competition, in which each team faces six teams from the six existing levels, with three matches at home and three away.
This complex system has prompted UEFA to hire two companies to automate the entire process.
A company specialising in automated draws and sports data will provide the software to conduct the draw and determine the eight opponents for each team, but after manually drawing their ball from the bowl on stage.
The automated system ensures that no two teams from the same country or league face each other, and another company specialising in auditing will review everything.
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