Chapter 1243 Champions League Grouping

On the morning of the second day of the award ceremony, Hou Lai returned to Madrid, and he even participated in the team's afternoon training.

In the evening, he was already sitting on the sofa with Li Qingqing in his arms, watching the live broadcast of the UEFA Champions League group draw ceremony.

It will be his second time in the Champions League and he hopes this time around he will not be knocked out 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 are the same as achievements, one is enough. After all, he is not a Seville navigator, and he is addicted to the Europa League.

Because the Madrid Pirates did not win the La Liga championship last season, they were not listed as a seeded team in the Champions League group draw.

This is a risk for the Madrid Pirates.

Although it is expensive, it is entirely possible to overturn in the Champions League group stage.

In fact, according to the points of the Madrid Pirates in the European War, it is completely possible to become one of the eight seeded teams.

However, since UEFA changed the rules for setting the UEFA Champions League seeding teams, the results of the grouping have become more suspenseful.

After all, teams like the Madrid Pirates and the King of Madrid have become second-tier teams because they did not win the La Liga championship last season. They are simply super catfish.

No one wants to be in a group with such a team.

"Which teams do you want to be grouped with, Hu Lai?" Li Qingqing, nestled in Hu Lai's arms, asked while watching TV.

Hu Lai pouted: "It doesn't matter, as long as it's not Leeds City, anyone is fine. It would be even better if we could meet Xiao Xing Xing and Xiao Yu..."

Chen Xingyi's Athletic Amsterdam was the champion of the Eredivisie last season, so it is also the seed team of this season's Champions League. It is indeed possible to be assigned to the same group as the Madrid Pirates.

And Xia Xiaoyu's Alvara was not the champion of the Portuguese Super League last season, but they won the opportunity to participate in the Champions League group stage through the qualifying round. They are not a seeded team, but a third-tier team.

In this way, it is really possible that the three teams will be divided into one group...

That would be fun.

There will be six "Chinese Derby" games 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 for the group, 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 a Champions League, and women's football also has a Champions League.

Women's football is now developing very well in Europe, surpassing China and the United States, the two traditional women's football powerhouses.

So now the Chinese Football Association also encourages more female football players like Li Qingqing to go abroad and play in Europe.

In fact, it will be easier for them to go out than the men's football team, because the strength of the Chinese women's football team itself is very strong. Except for Li Qingqing, other players in the women's football team also have a very high level.

As long as they are willing to go abroad to play football, there will be no shortage of suitors in Europe.

"I don't care, it doesn't matter if I meet you or not." Li Qingqing said casually.

She is a professional player, so of course she won't be unable to make a move just because she meets her. If that's the case, what difference does it make if she doesn't meet her?

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 also only started in October and continued until mid-December.

Eight teams are determined to advance to the knockout rounds.

In the knockout stage, the home and away two-round system will start again.

Played all the way to the final.

The final is a single match.

Li Qingqing's best result in the Women's Champions League is the semi-finals, and she has not yet participated in the Champions League final.

The transfer to the King of Madrid is to pursue the Champions League.

As the champion of the Women's Western Super League, the Madrid King's women's football team has become a seeded team. They can directly participate in the main match without participating in the previous complicated qualifiers and qualifying matches.

The rules for determining the seeding teams of the women's UEFA Champions League are the same as those of the men's football teams, with the defending champion plus the three champion teams with the highest league points.

The King of Madrid women's team has already occupied a seed team and has a slight advantage in the group draw. The Paris Erger Women's Football Team failed to win the Ligue 1 last season, so it is really possible to be assigned to the same group as the Madrid Kings Women's Football Team.

Before the grouping of the Men's Champions League, the Women's Champions League draws first.

In the end, Li Qingqing's Madrid King was not in the same group as the Paris Erger Women's Football Team, but was divided into the Insubre Women's Football Team, Westin Athletic Women's Football Team, and the Portuguese Women's Football Team.

There is basically no team in this group that can threaten the Madrid Kings women's football team. It can be said that Li Qingqing's participation in the Champions League knockout round is a certainty.

After the UEFA Women's Football draw, it was the men's UEFA Champions League group draw.

There have always been various rumors about the group draw, such as artificial manipulation, and anyone who wants to meet who can do it.

Some people think that the group draw is a purely random distribution method.

In fact, both guesses are wrong.

The UEFA Champions League draw is not completely random, but has traces of artificial arrangement.

But it is impossible to say that this person can arrange whatever he wants.

The thirty-two teams in the Champions League are divided into eight groups, and these eight groups are divided into 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 halves correspond to the two matchdays, Tuesday and Wednesday, for the sake of televised coverage.

Because of the needs of television broadcasting, the teams of the same national league must be divided into two halves.

For example, if there are four teams in La Liga this season to participate in the Champions League group stage, then two teams must be assigned to the upper half and two teams must be assigned to the lower half.

If there is a league with five participating teams, that is three teams in one half and two teams in one half.

The broadcasters of each country will provide UEFA with a specific half-area avoidance principle for their national league teams before the draw. Generally speaking, the two most eye-catching teams are divided into different half zones. For example, King Madrid and Catalan United must be arranged in different half zones, so that there is a game between a heavyweight team on Tuesday and Wednesday. attention.

Spanish TV stations can broadcast the King of Madrid 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 and interests of advertising sponsors. It will not happen that the Catalan United and the King of Madrid will play on the same day, and the ratings of the two match days will be seriously unbalanced.

UEFA will launch a half-zone avoidance list before the draw. Through this list, in fact, what group a certain team may be in is basically limited to a small range.

If Catalan is drawn to the upper half, then the King of Madrid can only go to the lower half of the group.

The Madrid Pirates and Valentia must also be in different halfs. In addition to the avoidance rule that teams from the same country’s league cannot be in the same group, the two teams will be assigned to four groups. The probability of 1/2 is not absolute. Irregular random draw.

In addition, there are some rules that will also affect the grouping results. These rules may not even be football rules, but other factors.

For example, the Russian team can never be in the same group with the Ukrainian team...

As for why, everyone knows.

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The first team to be drawn was Cathay United, and they were assigned to Group H, the bottom half.

This means that King Madrid will definitely be in the top four groups of the division.

Sure enough, when the King of Madrid was drawn, the only groups available for the draw were the four groups in the upper half of A, B, C, and D.

But because Valentia was assigned to Group A at that time, it was definitely impossible for the King of Madrid to go to Group A, so there were only three groups B, C, and D to choose from.

In the end, this super big catfish was assigned to Group B. The first team in the same group was the Serie A champion Torino Bulls.

Leeds City, as last season's Europa League champion, also occupies a seeded team seat in this season's Champions League group stage.

They were drawn to Group G.

Seeing the result of the draw, He Feng, the commentator of the CCTV Sports Channel who broadcast the draw live, laughed: "Ha, the lower half! Leeds City is in the lower half, and they are very likely to meet the Madrid Pirates!"

Because the King of Madrid and Valentia have been drawn to the upper half, there is currently only one La Liga team, Catalan United, in the lower half. According to the principle of reciprocity, the Madrid Pirates will definitely be in the lower half. And they can't be in Group H with Catalan United, so the chances of meeting Leeds City have really increased...

So when the two lottery guests held a note with "Pirates of Madrid" printed on it, and the other held up a note with "Group G" printed on it.

Everyone was 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! Finally, there will be a 'Chinese Derby' in this year's Champions League group stage!"

Although there were four Chinese players participating in this year's Champions League match, in the previous draws, there has never been a situation where two Chinese players met.

Now Hu Lai and Zhou Zijing will meet in the Champions League group stage, satisfying the wish of many people who want to watch the Champions League "Chinese Derby".

In front of the TV, Li Qingqing turned her head to look at Hu Lai. Seeing his shocked expression, she couldn't help laughing: "Congratulations, Hu Lai, you can 'go home'!"

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Attached:

2027-2028 UEFA Champions League top 32 groups:

Group A: Lyon Lions (France), Tramed (England), Valentia (Spain), Belgrade Ghosts (Serbia);

Group B: Turin Bulls (Italy), King Madrid (Spain), St. Petersburg Metallurgy (Russia), Piraeus (Greece);

Group C: Athletic Manchester (England), Albara (Portugal), Weissdorf (Germany), Rome City (Italy);

Group D: Blue and White Munich (Germany), Bay Lighthouse (Turkey), Rotterdam Elite (Netherlands), Haken (Denmark);

Group E: Athletic Amsterdam (Netherlands), Stan Park Rangers (England), Antwerp City (Belgium), Saxenstadt (Germany);

Group F: Portuguese (Portugal), Insubrem (Italy), London Bridge (England), Bordeaux Sporting (France);

Group G: Leeds City (England), Madrid Pirates (Spain), Ruhr Rhine (Germany), Kiev (Ukraine);

Group H: Catalan United (Spain), Paris-Egerre (France), Vesuvius (Italy), Golden Spike Moscow (Russia)

(end of this chapter)