New rules for the Champions League, Manchester City and Chelsea become seeds, but Arsenal can only lock in the second gear

As the Champions League enters its final stage, people are beginning to look forward to the new season. Although Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan have not yet decided on their winning or losing, the Champions League seeds next season have been confirmed. Three teams, Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea, were shortlisted, and Arsenal, which ranked higher in the Premier League, can only lock in the second level. Why is this?

This season, the Champions League has implemented new regulations, and the determination of seed teams is very different from the past. The so-called seed team, according to formal terms, should be the first team. Last season was the last year of the implementation of the old rules, so let's see what happened.

Last season, the Champions League seed team was composed of the Champions League and Europa League champions, as well as the league champions with high points in Europe. Since Manchester City is the champion of the Premier League and the Champions League, it deserves to be the top seed team. Sevilla is also a member of the seed team with the championship of the UEFA Cup. The remaining six teams are champions in major leagues, including Barcelona, ​​Naples, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica and Feyenoord.

To put it bluntly, the seed teams at this time are all composed of champion teams, including two major European champions and league champions. Without a championship, it cannot be a seed team, which seems to be more in line with the idea that the Champions League is the strongest team in Europe. However, since this season, the rules of the Champions League have changed a lot. Not only has the expansion from the 32 team to the 36 team, there is no group competition, and it is replaced by a big cycle. Moreover, the division of seed teams is no longer based on the championship.

The seed team this season has become 9 teams. Except for the Champions League champions automatically selected, the other teams are determined according to the UEFA score ranking. Therefore, it can be seen that last season's Bundesliga champion Leverkusen could only rank second, but instead ranked fourth and fifth in the Bundesliga, with Leipzig and Dortmund both becoming seed teams.

Europa League champion Atlanta has no "privileges" and can only fall into the second level. Moreover, the 9 seed teams are only distributed in four leagues. In a practical sense, such regulations are to consider the results of European competitions in the past five years, rather than referring to the results of a single season league. Do fans think the changes in the Champions League seed team are reasonable?

Therefore, next season will follow the rules of this season. Although Paris and Inter Milan still have a final, no matter what the winner is, the situation of points will not change. According to UEFA's latest standings, the top eight Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Dortmund became seeds as they wished.

Barcelona, ​​ranked 10th, missed the Champions League, and took the last bus of the seed team, Manchester United, ranked 11th, also missed the Champions League, and Arsenal, ranked 12th, could only lock in the second team. As for the UEFA Cup champion Tottenham, like Atlanta last season, it cannot become a seed team, and it can even be ranked third for the time being. Only Benfica or Bruges cannot pass the Champions League qualifiers can be replaced and upgraded to the second level.

The Premier League has won a total of 6 Champions League places, 3 teams are in the first level, Arsenal is in the second level, Tottenham is in the second level or third level, Newcastle rarely appears in European competitions and has locked in the fourth level. Similar to last season's Bundesliga champion Leverkusen, Serie A new champion Napoli can only lock in the second gear.

The changes in the rules of the Champions League seed team actually have some truth. Unlike in the past, according to the new rules, there is not much difference between the level of the class. In the past, after becoming a team in the first place, I would never meet the same team in the group stage. However, now it is completely different. The eight opponents in the group round-robin tournament draw two of the four levels, and teams in the four levels will not be "missed".

Look at Liverpool this season, there are 8 opponents in the group stage, all of which are the top five league teams, plus Eindhoven of the Portuguese Super League, so it is a pity that they were eliminated after seven consecutive victories. As strong as Real Madrid, 8 team opponents, and 7 of them come from the five major leagues, so they have been bumping and qualifying.

From this perspective, what is the difference between the first gear and the fourth gear?