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Bayern Munich won the Champions League / European Cup for the sixth time last season
This week the group stages of the Champions League and the Europa League begin.
After last season’s disruptions to both competitions as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to affect play around the world, what format will the 2020-21 tournaments take, when will the games be played and will fans be able to watch them? ?
Below are the answers to all your questions.
What are the formats for this year’s tournaments?
UEFA’s solution to last season’s Champions League halt was to organize a 12-day “final eight” knockout tournament in Lisbon, with Bayern Munich as the winner.
A similar format was used for the remaining Europa League qualifiers, which were played in Germany with the competition won by Spanish Sevilla.
This season it returns to the more familiar format for both tournaments.
In the Champions League, 32 teams from 14 countries have already divided into eight groups of four and will meet twice (at home and away), with the top two from each group qualifying for the knockout rounds. All eight third-place teams fall in the Europa League in the knockout stage.
The Europa League has 12 groups of four, with home and away games to decide who qualifies for the knockout rounds thanks to a result in the top two.
The last 32 leg to the semi-final of each tournament will consist of home and away matches.
When are the rounds played?
With delays in the 2019-20 season, meaning that the Champions League and Europa League finals were not played until the end of August, the matches for the 2020-21 competitions were delayed.
The Champions League group stage starts on Tuesday, and the Europa League group stage matches start on Thursday.
Here’s a breakdown of the encounters and when they will take place …
| Champions League and Europa League calendar | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Champions League | European League | ||
| Group match 1 | 10/20 / 2020 – 10/21/2020 | Group match 1 | 10/22/2020 |
| Group day 2 | 10/27/2020 – 10/28/2020 | Group day 2 | 10/29/2020 |
| Group day 3 | 03/11 / 2020-04 / 11/2020 | Group day 3 | 11/05/2020 |
| Group day 4 | 11/24 / 2020 – 11/25/2020 | Group day 4 | 11/26/2020 |
| Group day 5 | 12/01 / 2020-02 / 12/2020 | Group day 5 | 03/12/2020 |
| Group day 6 | 08/12 / 2020-09 / 12/2020 | Group day 6 | 10/12/2020 |
| Last 16 | 02/16 / 2021 – 03/17/2021 | Last 32 | 02/18 / 2021 – 02/25/2021 |
| Quarter finals | 04/06 / 2021-14 / 04/2021 | Last 16 | 03/11 / 2021 – 03/18/2021 |
| Semifinals | 04/27 / 2021-05 / 05/2021 | Quarter finals | 08/04 / 2021-15 / 04/2021 |
| Final | 05/29/2021 | Semifinals | 04/29 / 2021-06 / 05/2021 |
| Final | 05/26/2021 |
When do the games start?
The group stage matches in both competitions will start at 17:55 BST / GMT or 20:00.
You can see the full list on our Champions League and Europa League matches pages.
What is the situation with the fans?
When they returned after a five-month absence in 2019-20, Europe’s top club competitions were played behind closed doors in biosecure environments.
In early October, UEFA announced that fans would be allowed into stadiums for Champions League and Europa League matches, but only in those areas where local law allows it.
So as it stands, fans can attend games in France and Germany, which have started to allow fans to return in restricted numbers, but not in England, where all matches are still played behind closed doors.
When allowed, stadiums can be filled to a maximum of 30% capacity for this season’s European games. Visiting fans will not be allowed to participate in the games as is.
UEFA’s decision came after a successful driver, in which 15,000 fans attended the European Super Cup match between Bayern Munich and Sevilla at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary.
Where are the finals this year?
The final two venues this season are the same as those originally scheduled to host 2020 decision-makers.
The Champions League final will be played at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.
The 70,000-seat venue is used for Turkish national team matches and at various points has been the temporary home of Istanbul clubs Galatasaray, İstanbul Basaksehir and Besiktas.
Famously, it hosted the 2005 Champions League final, which saw Liverpool come back from a 3-0 defeat to draw AC Milan 3-3, before beating them on penalties.
The Europa League final will take place at the 41,620-capacity Gdansk stadium in Poland, home to Lechia Gdansk.
Who are the favorites to win?
Champions Bayern Munich are once again the favorites for this season’s Champions League, after they so ruthlessly ripped apart the competition in the 2019-20 mini-tournament.
Unsurprisingly, Manchester City and Liverpool lead the English challenge, with Chelsea and Manchester United trailing Paris St-Germain, Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid with the stakes.
Teams that move from the Champions League to the Europa League will alter the composition of the latter after the group stage.
But as it stands, Premier League duo Arsenal and Tottenham are among the favorites for the Europa League, ahead of Italians AC Milan and Napoli.
Leicester is the other English side in the competition, also containing Scottish representation with the Old Firm Celtic and Rangers pairing.
