this season's UFA Club competitions will see a brand new format with a league face replacing the traditional group stage under the new format in the UEFA Champions League teams will play eight matches against eight different teams four at home and four away so what does that mean for the league phase draw well the new draw system is hybrid a team is manually drawn and they opponents then randomly drawn by a dedicated software teams are seated in four pots based on their individual Club coefficients only the UEFA Champions League title holder is placed at top seed in part one irrespective of its coefficient starting with the nine teams in po one then a ball is manually drawn at random an automated software then randomly draws eight opponents two from each pot the software also randomly decides which matches that team plays at home and which matches away teams will face one match against the components from each pot at home and one away the software follows a set of principles ensuring that teams do not face an opponent from their own National Association and play a maximum of two opponents from any one other National Association while doing this the software always calculates the draw will not at any point result in a deadlock situation the same principles are followed in the UEFA Europa League while in the UEFA conf refence League each side will face six opponents one from each of the six pots in this case pot one and two three and four five and six are paired so that one match is at home and one match away this draw is the first step in the new format leading to more matches involving teams of equal strength more unpredictability and more top level clashes right from the beginning the new era of U wafer Club competitions start soon