Understanding champions League

 

The UEFA Champions League is a playoff-style tournament between Europe's top clubs (occurring yearly), which comprises of teams who finish top of their respective domestic leagues

 
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  • The tournament starts off in group stages where all teams in a group play each other twice with 6 total matches played

    • Just like in domestic leagues: a win is 3 points, a tie is 1, and 0 points for losing

  • The top 2 teams of each group (ranked by points) will move onto the knockout stage - starting with the round of 16

    • Tiebreakers are decided first by head-to-head points. If that's tied then head-to-head goal differential, and if that's tied then away goals scored head-to-head

Each knockout stage is a two-legged match. This means the score is totaled between 2 games to decide the winner in what we call an aggregate score

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  • Tiebreakers here are decided by who has scored more away goals. If that's tied then the game goes to extra time; two 15-minute halves. If it's still tied...we get a penalty shootout

    • i.e. If Inter Milan win 3-1 against Chelsea at home in Milan in the first leg but then Chelsea wins 2-0 the next leg then Chelsea moves on since the aggregate score is 3-3 with Chelsea scoring more away goals than Inter

  • The championship game is just one match winner takes all