How does the Champions League knockout play-off round draw work?

Submitted by daniel on
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Now we know we could face either Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Club Brugge or Galatasaray in the UEFA Champions League round of 16, here's how the knockout phase play-off round draw will work.

Clubs are paired together based on their final league phase position to form seeded and unseeded pairs, placing Juve (13th) and Atleti (14th) as seeded and Brugge (19th) and Galatasaray (20th) unseeded.

The seeded team will play the second leg at home and will be drawn against one of the unseeded pairs.

The knockout phase play-off round draw is set to take place at 11am on Friday 30 January and will determine which pathway (silver/blue) we are on.

The next dates to keep an eye on are then the first leg fixtures on 17-18 February followed by the second leg on 24-25 February.

Following that, the round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final draws will then all happen on Friday 27 February before the last-16 ties take place across 10-11 and 17-18 March.

After finishing fourth in the league phase table, we will be given a home second leg for the last 16 - and quarter-finals should we progress - due a new rule introduced this season for the top four positions.