By Mark Villani
The battle among nations for Europe’s most coveted prize is the Champions League cup of the Union of European Football Associations. The Champions League trophy is everything that a football player wishes for when they are playing in the park. The tournament takes place each year among Europe’s elite clubs in leagues across 52 countries. It begins with standard qualifying rounds for teams that finish between second and fourth place in their respective leagues and also for many other league champions in lower-ranked nations.
The winners of each league in a high-ranked nation will automatically qualify for the next Champions League and are guaranteed a spot in the group stage depending on their UEFA coefficient ranking. A nation’s UEFA coefficient determines the number of teams allowed to enter into the tournament from a particular country. UEFA coefficients are simply statistics that track how clubs from each nation have performed in the past five Champions League tournaments.
A nation like Spain is allowed a maximum of four teams to participate because of dominating squads like FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Another country, like Poland for example, is allowed one berth in the Champions League, as their champions have been unable to win in qualification rounds for the past five years. This ranking system ensures that each country has a balance of teams that are the best of the best and will compete to become number one in Europe.
The coefficients are calculated by UEFA according to each club team’s nationality and the performance quality of other clubs in their nation. The higher the coefficient ranking of a particular nation, the more club teams that are allowed to participate for that nation and the fewer qualification rounds those teams must play in to enter the tournament. In accordance with UEFA rules, no more than four teams are allowed to represent a single nation. However, there are exceptions to that rule because the defending champions of the tournament automatically qualify for the following year’s tournament regardless of whether they qualify in their national league standings at the end of the season.
Qualifying is quite possibly the most intense part of the tournament, as the remaining 38 or so national champions of each league fight for a spot in the group stage. These league champions represent their nation as a whole in one single club team. This means that the league champions of those particular countries with one coefficient ranking are the only team able to participate for that country. Once crowned league champion, these teams with one UEFA coefficient will enter into a four-round, single-knockout process. In total, 38 or 39 league champions participate. Out of these teams, five spots are granted to the winners of qualifying and those five squads will move on to the group stage.
Clubs that finish second to fourth in their respective league in nations with coefficient rankings greater than one receive buys to later rounds. These 15 teams from every major European league play in two qualifying rounds with only five teams advancing. Once qualifying is over and clubs are knocked out, the remaining 10 clubs will join 12 league champions, six runner-up teams and three other third-place teams, all of which have the highest UEFA coefficient rankings in their respective nations.
The hundreds of clubs across Europe are now narrowed down to just 32 squads that are placed at random into eight groups of four. In each group, all teams will play each other twice, both at home and away. A win is worth three points, a draw worth one and a loss worth nothing. At the end of the round-robin, the top-two teams in each group advance to the round of 16, while the third-place team will enter into the UEFA Europa League. The first-place team of group A will play the second-placed team of group B and so on, determining the winner based on the amount of goals after playing two matches. This two-leg format continues through to the quarter and semifinals until reaching the coveted final, single- knockout game to determine the king of European football.
The Champions League is a remarkable battle of legacies. The pressure is incredible as club teams play fixtures in their season to win the nation title, compete in national tournaments and continentally in the Champions League. Thus, a squad that qualifies for the Champions League at the end of their season may be completely different when they enter the tournament. The Champions League offers the thrill of rivalries that flare up among Europe’s elite while underdog teams come out of nowhere to destroy dreams by beating all odds. It is truly the most exciting tournament in sports.