A computer programme will decide the Champions League play-offs

The change in the Champions League format will bring an atypical draw on 29th August in Monte Carlo. With the unveiling of the new format, it was already known that the classic ball-and-ball draw would be modified, and now UEFA has gone into more detail.
"The new format requires a different type of draw. In fact, if we had kept the way we had been doing it for this new league phase, we would have needed about 1000 balls, with 36 urns corresponding to the drums on the stage, so we would not have been able to handle it," the European body explained on its official website.
However, the change will not be so radical: "The teams will be drawn manually with physical balls as far as possible, but then specially prepared software will randomly assign each of the clubs their eight opponents from the four pots. The pairings will be instantly visible both in Monte Carlo and in the draw on television. The software will also decide which matches each team will play at home and which away".
"The draw will start with Pot 1. The clubs corresponding to that pot - Manchester City, Bayern, Real Madrid, PSG, Liverpool, Inter, Borussia Dortmund">Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Barcelona - will be drawn and each of them will be assigned their 8 opponents until they all know their opponents," continues UEFA in its explanation.
To conclude, the body led by Aleksander Ceferin confirms the total randomness of the draw on its website: "The software guarantees that, in accordance with the conditions stipulated by the regulations, the draw will be completely random. In addition, it will certify that the draw will be completed and that there will not come a time when there will be a blockage due to some kind of error when crossing the teams".
One of the restrictions that will be maintained in relation to the draws that had been carried out until 2024 is that there will be no opponents from the same country in the first phase league. Likewise, a team may play a maximum of two opponents from the same nation before the playoffs for the title.