チャンピオンズリーグのプレイオフは今日ドロー！！

UEFA Champions League本戦出場に向けて、現地時間１２時にニヨンでプレイオフのドローが行われる。

Champions League play-off draw looms(uefa.com)

The UEFA Champions League play-off round draw takes place at 12.00CET on Friday at UEFA Headquarters in Nyon, with the likes of Arsenal FC and Olympique Lyonnais able to face teams including ACF Fiorentina and Club Atlético de Madrid.

Two paths
With the lineup having been completed with the conclusion of the third qualifying round on Wednesday, ten clubs in the Champions Path will compete for five places in the group stage and another ten challengers have been allocated to the Non-Champions Path. In each of the two sections, five teams are seeded according to the UEFA club coefficient rankings and five unseeded, with the five winners from each section joining the 22 automatic entrants in the group stage. The play-offs are played over two legs on 18/19 and 25/26 August. The draw ceremony will be conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor together with competitions director Giorgio Marchetti.

UEFA Champions League play-off round
Non-Champions Path

Seeded
Arsenal FC (ENG)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
Panathinaikos FC (GRE)
VfB Stuttgart (GER)

Unseeded
ACF Fiorentina (ITA)
Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
Celtic FC (SCO)
RSC Anderlecht (BEL)
FC Timişoara (ROU)

UEFA Champions League play-off roubd
Champions Path

Seeded
Olympiacos CFP (GRE)
FC København (DEN)
PFC Levski Sofia (BUL)
Maccabi Haifa FC (ISR)
FC Zürich (SUI)

Unseeded
FC Salzburg (AUT)
APOEL FC (CYP)
FK Ventspils (LVA)
Debreceni VSC (HUN)
FC Sheriff (MDA)

プレイオフはシードはないという話だったが、UEFA Club Rankingの上位はシードされることとなった。

しかし、Non-Champions Pathはアーセナル、リヨンがシードされたのに対し、フィオレンティーナ、アトレティコ・マドリーはアンシード。いきなりプレミアとセリエAやリーガ・エスパニョーラの強豪が潰しあう可能性がある。

チャンピオンズリーグも本戦に出てくるチームに弱いところはひとつもないが、プレイオフの段階で壮絶な潰しあいが見られるとは。本戦出場も厳しい時代になってきたということだね。シードされても相手はひとつとして弱いところはないからね。