Organizers of Automated Draw For New Champions League Format Insist It Will Be Safe From Hackers

Organizers of the new-style Champions League draw that relies on a software program said Wednesday it will be fast and safe from hackers.

UEFA hired a specialist technology firm that will help create match pairings Thursday in the 36-team, single-league format that replaces the traditional group stage which could be drawn manually with balls picked from bowls.

“We have taken all steps we possibly can to make it as safe and secure as possible,” said David Gill of AE Live, the English software firm that designed the draw process for a gala ceremony in Monaco. “This is not new for us.”

Gill said the firm also worked with FIFA and faced a “supply chain attack” after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After the invasion started in February 2022, FIFA and UEFA removed Russia from qualifying playoffs for the 2022 World Cup ahead of the finals tournament draw ceremony in Qatar that April.

UEFA deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti said at an eve-of-draw briefing it had full confidence in AE Live, which has not shared its software code with the Champions League organizer.

Asked about conspiracy theories regarding the integrity of UEFA competition draws, Marchetti acknowledged “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,” Marchetti said. “People can trust us.”

After 21 years playing in the traditional Champions League format — 32 teams each playing six games in a group to advance to the round of 16 — the new system has 36 teams each playing eight different opponents. They are ranked in a single league standings in January to decide who advances to the knockout phase.

This format created so many permutations of possible pairings that an old-style manual draw would have taken several hours instead of about 30 minutes.

Instead, each ball will be picked from one of four bowls of seeded teams before the software decides its eight opponents that are quickly displayed.

“The response of the system will happen in a few seconds so there is no possibility for anyone to intervene,” Marchetti said.

Last December, unexplained moaning noises disrupted the draw ceremony for the men's European Championship. The interruption was clearly heard for several minutes on the broadcast from a concert hall in Hamburg, Germany. A British prankster claimed credit for the stunt.