How will the Champions League knockout play-offs work?

The revamped Champions League is nearing the knockout phase and soon we’ll know which teams will have made it through to the next stages.

The top eight from the 36-team league phase will automatically qualify for the last 16, leaving another eight spaces to be decided through the play-off route. Teams finishing ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged play-off, which means, as it stands at least, Paris Saint-Germain — currently 25th — won’t make the play-offs.

PSG, holders Real Madrid and other big-name clubs, such as Manchester City, Juventus and Atletico Madrid, are not where many would have expected them to be in the table at the start of the campaign. Madrid (20th), City (22nd), Juventus (14th) and Atletico (11th) are currently in play-off spots, but there’s still plenty of jeopardy in the two remaining rounds of fixtures as the Champions League restarts after a six-week break.

The table as it stands

Have teams already qualified?

Yes. Liverpool and Barcelona, currently occupying the top two spots in the table, are through to the play-offs at the very least, though both will be hoping to rubber-stamp their progress to the last 16 in the coming week by confirming a top-eight finish. Liverpool, courtesy of their convincing 2-0 win over Madrid, were the first to progress, with Barcelona following on Matchday 6 in December after a 3-2 victory over Borussia Dortmund.

This week’s fixtures could prove crucial to the final standings. As The Athletic’s Elias Burke writes, the new league phase “has opened the door to so many possibilities as we enter its penultimate week”.

Arne Slot’s men host Lille on Tuesday and a draw at Anfield would secure Liverpool’s place in the top eight. At the other end of the table, RB Leipzig, Slovan Bratislava and Young Boys have effectively been eliminated. But, as things stand, the permutations for every other team are more complicated. You can read more about our projection model and what teams need to qualify here.

When do the knockouts begin?

The knockout play-offs begin on February 11 and 12, with the second legs on February 18 and 19. From the play-offs onwards, the tournament is a bracket, ending with the final at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, on May 31.

The full knockout dates are below:

Knockout phase play-offs: February 11, 12 and February 18, 19
Round of 16: March 4, 5 and March 11, 12
Quarter-finals: April 8, 9 and April 15, 16
Semi-finals: April 29, 30 and May 6, 7
Final: May 31

How will the play-off draw work?

The play-off draw will be held on January 31 at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland, and will be streamed live on UEFA.com.

Clubs that finished ninth to 16th in the league are seeded in four pairs (9 and 10, 11 and 12 and so on) and the rest will make up four unseeded pairs (17 and 18, 19 and 20 etc).

GO DEEPER

Champions League matchday seven: Who can qualify for the knockout phase? Who could be eliminated?

Each seeded pair will be drawn against an unseeded pair. For example, nine or 10 will play 23 or 24, while the teams that finished 11th or 12th will come up against the teams that were 21st or 22nd in the league. The aim is for seeded clubs to play their return legs at home.

The draw allocates each team from a pair to one of the pre-determined positions in the bracket. For example, for the first draw, one of the clubs ranked 23rd or 24th will be drawn in one side of the bracket, leaving the other to be automatically placed on the opposite side. The unseeded pairings will be drawn first, with the process then repeated for the seeded pairings, starting from the teams ranked 15 and 16.

Teams can be drawn against another from the same country or an opponent they faced during the league phase. The eight teams that come through the play-off phase will then progress to the last 16.

(Top photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images)