UEFA have announced a number of changes to the Champions League to deal with the overlap of last season’s competition and the 2020/21 competition which was scheduled to get underway this week.
With a group place held open for the winners of the 2020 competition the draw procedure has to be changed with Lyon and Napoli failing to qualify through their league position.
If the 2020 Champions League winners have already earned a group place the winners of the Dutch League (Ajax on goal difference) will get an automatic group place rather than be involved in the Play Off round.
Celtic are largely unaffected but playing a round over one match will be an entirely new experience for Neil Lennon’s side.
Wherever the games are played it will be Behind Closed Doors. Away goals won’t count double with the match played to a finish through extra-time and penalties if needed.
Should Celtic reach the Play Off stage, scheduled for mid-September the competition will revert back to being two legged with the hoops almost certain to be seeded at each draw.
1. UEFA have published the regulations for the 20/21 Champions League. It’s nearly exactly the same as last year. But there are 3 major differences to account for the changes caused by Covid, and the need for a compressed qualifying.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) July 16, 2020
10. Finally, confirmation of how coefficiant points will be allocated in the one-off ties. This refers to points gained for the national coefficient only.
– Win without needing penalties = 1.5pts
– Go to a penalty shootout = 1pt
– Lose the tie before penalties- 0.5pts pic.twitter.com/NzUPxUcu4i— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) July 16, 2020
14. For Celtic it doesn’t change much. We still have to play 4 rounds, will almost certainly be seeded for all 4, and face the dangers of one-off ties.
The only difference might be that rebalancing will remove Dinamo Zagreb from out list of potential playoff opponents.
/End
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) July 16, 2020
