Champions League organisers have assured clubs and fans there is no possibility of the new AI-assisted draw for the men’s UEFA competition being manipulated tomorrow, with extra security in place to guard against cyber attacks.
The traditional manual draw can no longer be solely relied on to determine fixtures as the competition has expanded from 32 to 36 teams with a more complex format.
It is the biggest transformation to European men’s football in more than three decades since the introduction of a group stage that gave entry to multiple clubs from countries – rather than just their domestic league champions.
The Champions League’s group stage – where eight groups each featured four teams playing each other home and away – is being replaced by a 36-team league phase.
It will feature Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa as last season’s Premier League top four.
Teams will now play eight matches against different opponents, requiring computers using artificial intelligence to determine pairings around some manual drawing of balls at a ceremony in Monaco on Thursday night.
UEFA is not immune to conspiracy theories being floated about its draw procedures, and the use of more technology could lead to more attempts to cast doubt on social media.
“People can trust us,” UEFA deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti said when asked about fending off conspiracies.
“Many people didn’t trust us in the past – they thought the ball was hot or cold or god only knows which systems to manipulate the balls.”
He pointed to another wild claim that UEFA’s use of football legends for the draw was because “we told them which balls to pick”.
But UEFA has full confidence in AE Live, the English company which developed the automated draw software.
“The response of the system will happen in a few seconds so there is no possibility for anyone to intervene,” Mr Marchetti said. “UEFA has never been made part of the code developed by AE Live.
“The only parties who know the code are AE Live and (auditors) Ernst & Young.”
AE Live chief technology officer David Gill also offered assurances about safety: “We have taken all steps we possibly can to make it as safe and secure as possible.
“There are a lot of risk assessments and we put additional precautions in place.”
There is a wariness following past sports events warning about Russian hacking attempts, which Moscow has denied.
“We know the risks and dangers are in today’s world,” Mr Marchetti said, speaking generally. “They take it incredibly seriously.”
The new league phase finishes in January – a month later than the previous group stage – and will see the 36 competing teams ranked by points in an overall league table.
The top eight teams will automatically qualify for a round of 16, which will be completed by the teams finishing ninth to 24 contesting a two-legged play-off round.
Reaching the final could now require 15 or 17 matches for clubs from the league phase rather than 13 previously, on top of the main business of domestic leagues and cups to fit into the season.
The new league phase format will also be used for both the Europa League and Europa Conference League.