What happens if teams finish level on points in the Champions League? Tiebreaker explained

Although there are still plenty of games left to play in the league phase of the 2024/25 Champions League, we already have a fair idea of some of the teams likely to progress directly to the round of 16, which may require a playoff to do so, and who could be exiting the competition.

2024/25 Champions League league phase: format and who qualifies

Once each team has played eight games in the league phase, the top eight teams will qualify automatically for the first knockout round, which is the last 16.

The other eight qualifiers will be decided in the knockout phase playoff round. Teams that finished ninth to 16th will be seeded for the playoffs, with those ranked 17th to 24th unseeded.

The bottom 12 teams in the league phrase will be eliminated from the competition and, unlike in the previous format, won’t drop down into the Europa League. European soccer will be all over for them until next season at the earliest.

With 36 teams all ranked in the same league, there will inevitably be a number that finish on the same number of points after playing eight games.

How are teams level on points separated in the Champions League?

As not every team in the league phase plays against each other, head-to-head record isn’t a factor when it comes to breaking ties. Instead, the first tiebreaker is goal difference (i.e. difference between goals scored and goals conceded).

If teams can still not be separated, which is likely to happen, goals scored is the second tiebreaker, followed by away goals scored. The fourth tiebreaker is number of victories recorded, with away victories fifth.

These factors are used to separate teams who have the same number of points while the league phase is in progress. Should some teams still have identical records before the round has finished, they will then be ranked in alphabetical order.

However, in the unlikely event that clubs are level on all five of those tiebreakers after the completion of the league phase, five more points (6-10 in the table above) are then introduced in the following order: higher number of points obtained collectively by league phase opponents; superior collective goal difference of league phase opponents; higher number of goals scored collectively by league phase opponents, lower disciplinary points total, UEFA club coefficient.

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