How the Champions League table works and how many teams qualify as Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City look to progress

Today at 07:30 AM

The new-look Champions League is now reaching the end of the league phase but it continues to provide a headache for fans.

UEFA‘s premier competition underwent a radical revamp for this season, with a 36-team league replacing the old-style group stage.

Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Celtic are the five British representatives involved in the debut of this new format.

Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa look to set progress, but Man City and Celtic are under some pressure in the last two matchdays.

As a result of the expansion, all sides are now playing eight games in first phase of the competition, an extra two compared to the previous group stage style.

Qualification will be decided by the end of this month, and there will be no drop down to the Europa League anymore.

Here, talkSPORT.com breaks down how it all works…

How does the Champions League table work?

All 36 teams involved in the competition are included in one singular table – which is formatted in the same style as domestic leagues.

Over a designated 10-week period, each side will play eight matches, which have been split randomly between home and away fixtures.

The top eight teams will automatically qualify for the knockout stage.

Those that finish from ninth to 24th in the table can still reach the last 16 but via successfully winning a two-legged play-off.

The teams that finish between 9th and 16th will be seeded in that play-off draw, and will play a side that ended between 17th to 24th – with, in principle, the return leg also at home.

The eight respective play-off winners will qualify for the knockouts.

Teams that finish 25th or lower will be eliminated from all UEFA competition instantly, with no access to the Europa League.

As mentioned, it still remains three points for every win, one for a draw and nothing for a defeat as is the case in domestic divisions.

The assignment of fixtures, which discarded playing every team twice, has seen some top clubs take on the same minnows.

If two or more teams are equal on points by the end of the league phase then qualification will be determined by certain criteria.

Goal difference, goals scored, most away goals, number of wins, and number of away wins are the standard five factors involved.

Failing all that, the achievements of team’s respective league phase opponents will be pitted against each other from number of points, the superior goal difference, and the highest number of goals scored.

The final two criteria if needed will be who has the lower disciplinary points total, and then finally, which has the higher club coefficient.

From the last 16, there is also set to be a tennis-style seeding system.

That rewards the top eight teams that qualified automatically with a tie against one of the unseeded winners of the knockout phase play-offs.

This ensures that the top four teams can’t play each other until the semi-finals, while the top two from the league could only face one another in a potential final.

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