UEFA announced earlier today that it has endorsed and will utilise a different seeding process for the Champions League next season.
The new process will see the champions from the top seven European leagues – Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France and Russia – going into Pot One alongside the holders of the trophy, as opposed to the top ranked teams from these countries.
This in effect means that teams such as Arsenal and Manchester United, who constantly find themselves in Pot One due to a high UEFA coefficient despite a lack of domestic triumphs as of late, will no longer be considered a top seed team when the draws occur.
Meanwhile, teams such as Atletico Madrid and Juventus, who have enjoyed recent success despite being ranked lower than traditional contenders such as Barcelona and AC Milan in their respective countries, will be placed in the top seed.
The change in the system comes as a response to the unjust nature of teams that are highly ranked by UEFA coefficients yet whose results have not shown footballing prowess ending up in Pot One together.
UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino emphasised how the amendment in the seeding process will create for a more interesting and well balanced draw of groups.
“This will give another dynamic with the draw and in the way the groups are composed. It will be approved with the regulations at the start of next year” he said in a statement on UEFA’s website.
“It happened in France and it happened in England, people had difficulties understanding how the champion of a country is in a lower pot than the third ranked in that country” he added, exemplifying the flaws in the current process.
Despite the change in rules, discrepancies still remain in the UEFA seeding system which have often led to unfortunate end results for some teams.
UEFA has yet to confirm who would take the final spot in Pot One should the Champions League winners turn out to be domestic title winners too, for example.
Tottenham Hotspur FC missed out as a result of Chelsea winning the domestic title and European title in 2011 due to such a loop hole.
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