Chapter 54: UEFA Champions League Grouping

On the morning of the second day of the awards ceremony, Hulay returned to Madrid, and he even participated in the team's afternoon training.
In the evening, he was sitting on the sofa with Li Qingqing in his arms to watch the UEFA Champions League group draw and wanted to broadcast it live.
This will be his second time to participate in the Champions League. He hopes that this time he will not be eliminated in the group stage.
Although he became the best player in the Europa League last season, he does not want to participate in the Europa League again.
Europa League champions, just like achievements, one is enough. After all, he is not the Navigator of Seville, addicted to the Europa League.
Because the Madrid Pirates did not win La Liga last season, they were not listed as seeded teams in the UEFA Champions League draw.
This is a risk for Madrid pirates.
Although you are a giant, it is entirely possible to overturn in the Champions League group stage.
In fact, according to the European competition points of the Madrid Pirates, it is completely possible to become one of the eight seeded teams.
However, since UEFA changed the rules of the Champions League seeded teams, the grouping results have become more suspenseful.
After all, teams like the Madrid Pirates and the Madrid Kings have become the second-tier team because they did not win the La Liga championship last season. They are simply super big catfish.
No one wants to be grouped with such a team.
"Hu Lai which teams do you want to group with?" Li Qingqing, who was nestled in Hu Lai's arms, asked while watching TV.
Hu Lai curled his lips: "It doesn't matter, as long as it's not Leeds City, anyone can. It would be better if you could meet Xiaoxingxing and Xiaoyu..."
Since Chen Xingyi's Athletic Amsterdam is the Dutch League champion last season, it is naturally also the seeded team of the UEFA Champions League this season. It is indeed possible to be divided into a group with the Madrid Pirates.
And Xia Xiaoyu's Alvara was not the Portuguese Super League champion last season, but they won the opportunity to participate in the Champions League group stage through the qualifying round, not a seeded team, but a third-tier team.
In this way, it is really possible that three teams will be divided into one group...
That can be lively.
Six games of the "Chinese Derby" will be staged in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
It's just that the result of this grouping is a bit cruel. After all, only two teams in each group can get the right to qualify, so it is very likely that one or even two of them will not be able to qualify from the group.
"What about you? Do you want to avoid Paris Eger?" Hu Lai asked Li Qingqing again.
Men's football has the Champions League, and women's football also has the Champions League.
Women's football is now well developed in Europe and has surpassed the two traditional powerhouses of women's football, China and the United States.
So now the Chinese Football Association also encourages more female football players to go abroad and play in Europe like Li Qingqing.
In fact, it will be easier for them to go out than men's football because the strength of the Chinese women's football team is very strong. In addition to Li Qingqing, other players in the women's football team also have a very high level.
As long as they are willing to play abroad, there is no shortage of suitors in Europe.
"It doesn't matter to me, it doesn't matter whether I meet it or not, it does not matter." Li Qingqing said casually.
She is a professional player. Of course, she won't be unable to play because she meets them. In that case, what is the difference if she meets or fails?
The women's UEFA Champions League is different from the men's UEFA Champions League. There are only 16 teams in the group stage, divided into four groups.
The UEFA Champions League only started in October and lasted until mid-December.
Determine eight teams to enter the knockout round.
In the knockout stage, the home and away two-round system will start again.
Played until the final.
The final is a single game.
Li Qingqing's best result in the Women's Champions League is the semi-finals. She has not participated in the Champions League final.
The transfer to the Madrid Kings was to pursue the Champions League.
As the champion of the Women's Western Super League, the Madrid Kings women's football team has become a seeded team, and can directly participate in the main match without participating in the previous complicated qualifiers and qualifying matches.
The women’s Champions League’s seeded teams determine the same rules as men’s football, with the defending champion plus three championship teams with the highest league points.
The Madrid Kings women's football team has already occupied a seeded team and has a slight advantage in the group draw. The Paris Eger women's football team failed to win the French Ligue 1 last season, so it is really possible to be divided into a group with the Madrid Kings women's football team.
Before the men's UEFA Champions League grouping, the women's UEFA Champions League draws a group first.
In the end, the King of Madrid, where Li Qingqing belonged, was not divided into the same group with the Paris Héger women's football team, but with the Insubre women's football team, Westin Athletic women's football team, and the Portuguese women's football team.
Basically no team in this group can threaten the Madrid Kings women's football. It can be said that Li Qingqing's participation in the Champions League knockout matches is a certainty.
After the women's UEFA Champions League draw, it was the men's UEFA Champions League group draw.
There have always been various rumors about the group lottery, such as man-made manipulation, and whoever wants to meet can do it.
Some people think that the lottery is a purely random distribution method.
In fact, these two guesses are wrong.
The UEFA Champions League draw is not completely random, but with traces of artificial arrangements.
But it's impossible to say that this person can arrange whatever he wants.
The 32 teams in the Champions League are divided into eight groups. The eight groups are divided into the upper and lower halves. That is to say, groups A to D are in the upper half, and groups E to H are in the lower half.
The different half-zones correspond to the two game days, Tuesday and Wednesday, and this is done for the convenience of television broadcast.
Because of the need for television broadcasts, teams in the same national league must be divided equally in two halves.
For example, there are four teams participating in the Champions League group stage in La Liga this season, so there must be two teams divided into the upper half and two teams divided into the lower half.
If there are five participating teams in a league, then there are three teams in one half zone and two teams in one half zone.
Broadcasting chambers of various countries provide UEFA with a specific half-zone avoidance principle for their own league team before the draw. Generally speaking, the two most eye-catching teams are divided into different half-zones. For example, the Madrid Kings and Catalonia must be arranged in different half-zones, so that there will be a heavyweight team on Tuesday and Wednesday. Be concerned.
Spanish television can broadcast the Madrid King’s game one day and the Catalan United game one day. Maximize the use of the influence of the two teams to ensure the ratings and the rights of advertising sponsors. It will not happen that Catalonia and the Madrid Kings play on the same day, and the ratings of the two game days are seriously out of balance.
UEFA will launch a half-area avoidance list before the draw. Through this list, in fact, a certain team may be basically limited to a small range in what group.
If Catalonia is drawn to the upper half, then the Madrid King can only go to the team in the lower half.
The Madrid Pirates and Valentia must also be in different half-zones. In addition, the teams in the same league cannot be evaded in one group. The two teams are assigned to four groups. The probability of one-half is not a single group. An irregular random draw.
In addition, there are some rules that will affect the results of the grouping. These rules may not even be football rules, but other factors.
For example, the Russian team must not be in the same group with the Ukrainian team...
As for why, everyone knows.
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The first team to be drawn out was Catalonia, and they were assigned to Group H, the lower half.
This means that the Kings of Madrid will definitely be in the four teams in the upper half.
Sure enough, when the Madrid Kings were drawn, there were only four teams in the upper half of A, B, C, and D.
But because Valentia was assigned to Group A at the time, it is certainly impossible for the Madrid Kings to go to Group A, so there are only three groups B, C and D to choose from.
Finally, this super big catfish was assigned to Group B. The first class team in the same group is the Serie A champion Torino Bulls.
As the UEFA Champions League last season, Leeds also occupied a seeded team's seat in the UEFA Champions League group stage this season.
They were drawn to Group G.
Seeing the result of the draw, He Feng, the commentator of the CCTV Sports Channel who was broadcasting the draw, laughed: "Ha, the lower half! Leeds is in the lower half, they are very likely to run into Madrid pirates!"
Because both the Madrid Kings and Valentia were drawn to the upper half, there is currently only one La Liga team from Catalonia in the lower half. According to the principle of reciprocity, the Madrid Pirates will definitely be in the lower half. Moreover, they can’t be in Group H with Catalonia, and the chances of meeting Leeds have indeed increased...
So when the two guests in the draw were holding a note with "Leeds City" and the other holding a note with "Group G".
Everyone is not very surprised.
He Feng laughed and said: "Group G! Leeds City! Aha! The Madrid Pirates have been assigned to Group G where Leeds City is located! Finally, there is a ‘Chinese Derby’ in this year’s Champions League group stage!"
Although four Chinese players participated in this year's Champions League match, in the previous draw, there was never a situation where two Chinese players met.
Now Hu Lai and Zhou Zijing will meet in the Champions League group stage, satisfying many people's desire to watch the Champions League "Chinese Derby".
In front of the TV, Li Qingqing turned to look at Hu Lai. Seeing that he also had a shocked expression, she couldn't help but laughed: "Congratulations, Hu Lai, you can'home' now!"
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Attached:
2027-2028 season UEFA Champions League top 32 groupings:
Group A: Lions of Lyon (France), Tramed (England), Valentia (Spain), Ghost of Belgrade (Serbia);
Group B: Torino Bulls (Italy), King Madrid (Spain), St. Petersburg Metallurgy (Russia), Piraeus (Greece);
Group C: Manchester Athletic (England), Alvara (Portugal), Wiesedoff (Germany), Rome City (Italy);
Group D: Blue and White Munich (Germany), Bay Lighthouse (Turkey), Rotterdam Elite (Netherlands), Haken (Denmark);
Group E: Amsterdam Athletic (Netherlands), Stan Park Rangers (England), Antwerp City (Belgium), Saxonystad (Germany);
Group F: Portuguese (Portugal), Insubre (Italy), London Bridge (England), Bordeaux Sports (France);
Group G: Leeds City (England), Madrid Pirates (Spain), Ruhr Rhein (Germany), Kiev (Ukraine);
Group H: Catalonia (Spain), Paris Eger (France), Vesuvius (Italy), Moscow Golden Spike (Russia)