July 10 – UEFA has confirmed their new seeding regulations for their club competition knockout rounds, with clubs who finish in the League phase top four – or a team that beats them – guaranteed a home second leg in the round of 16 and quarterfinals.
The basic premise when it was announced in May was that there would be no more random draws for home advantage, with the venue of the second leg now based on merit rather than lottery.
However, the specifics of the new rule means that is not strictly the case. Only the top four teams get guaranteed home advantage, with the top two also getting priority in the semifinals.
Other clubs, however, can ‘win’ that advantage by defeating one of the top-four clubs, taking their seeding.
That means there are some quirks, with the new rules meaning third and fourth placed teams now cannot have second-leg home advantages in the semi-finals as they cannot take first or second place’s ranking on the way to the penultimate round. That puts them at a disadvantage despite strong League Phase performances.
In practice, only teams finishing in specific positions can get home second legs in the semi-finals: first, second, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, twenty-third, and twenty-fourth.
Most American sports handle playoff seedings in a simpler manner, with higher ranked sides getting home advantage throughout.
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