The morning after the award ceremony, Hulay returned to Madrid, and he even participated in the team's afternoon training.
In the evening, he had already sat on the sofa with Li Qingqing in his arms to watch the Champions League group draw ceremony, wanting to broadcast it live.
This will be his second time participating in the Champions League, and he hopes that this time he will not be eliminated in the group stage again.
Although he became the best player in the Europa League last season, he does not want to participate in the Europa League again.
The Europa League champion is the same as an achievement, one is enough. After all, he is not a Sevilla navigator who is addicted to the Europa League.
Because Madrid Pirates did not win the La Liga title last season, they were not listed as a seeded team in the Champions League group draw.
This is a risk for Madrid Pirates.
Even though you are a wealthy club, it is entirely possible for you to overturn in the Champions League group stage.
In fact, based on Madrid Pirates' European War points, they can definitely become one of the eight seeded teams.
However, since UEFA changed the rules for setting seeded teams in the Champions League, the group results have become more suspenseful.
After all, teams like Madrid Pirates and Kings of Madrid have become second-tier teams just because they failed to win the La Liga championship last season. They are simply super big catfish.
No one wants to be grouped with a team like this.
"Hu Lai, which teams do you want to be grouped with?" Li Qingqing, nestled in Hu Lai's arms, asked while watching TV.
Hu Lai pouted: "It doesn't matter, as long as it's not Leeds City, anyone can do it. It would be even better if I could meet Xiaoxing and Xiaoyu..."
Because Chen Xingyi's team, Atlético Amsterdam, was the Eredivisie champion last season, it is naturally a seed team in this season's Champions League. It is indeed possible to be placed in the same group as Madrid Pirates.
Xia Xiaoyu's Alvara was not the Portuguese Super League champion last season, but they won the opportunity to participate in the Champions League group stage through the qualifying rounds. They were not a seeded team, but a third-tier team.
In this way, it is really possible that the three teams will be divided into a group...
That would be lively.
There will be six "Chinese Derbys" in the Champions League group stage.
It's just that the results of this group are a bit cruel. After all, only two teams in each group can qualify for the group, so it is very likely that one or even both of them will not be able to qualify from the group.
"What about you? Do you want to avoid Paris Eger?" Hu Lai asked Li Qingqing again.
The men’s football team has the Champions League, and the women’s football team also has the Champions League.
Women's football is now developing very well in Europe and has surpassed China and the United States, the two traditional women's football powers.
So now the Chinese Football Association is encouraging more female football players to go abroad and play football in Europe like Li Qingqing.
In fact, it will be easier for them to go out than the men's football team, because the Chinese women's football team is very strong. In addition to Li Qingqing, other players in the women's football team are also of very high level.
As long as they are willing to play abroad, there will be no shortage of suitors in Europe.
"I don't care, it doesn't matter whether I meet you or not," Li Qingqing said casually.
She is a professional player, so of course she won't be unable to take action just because she encounters her. So in that case, what's the difference if she encounters someone but doesn't encounter her?
The Women's Champions League is different from the Men's Champions League. There are only 16 teams in the group stage, divided into four groups.
The Champions League matches only start in October and last until mid-December.
Eight teams will be selected to advance to the knockout rounds.
In the knockout stage, a two-leg system of home and away games will begin.
Played until the finals.
The final is a single game.
Li Qingqing's best result in the Women's Champions League is the semi-finals. She has not yet participated in the Champions League final.
The reason he transferred to Madrid was to pursue the Champions League title.
As the champions of the Spanish Women's Super League, the women's football team of the Kings of Madrid has become a seed team and can directly participate in the main match without participating in the previous complicated qualifiers and qualifying rounds.
The rules for determining seed teams in the Women's Champions League are the same as those for men's football, with the defending champion plus the three championship teams with the highest league points.
The Madrid Kings women's football team has already occupied a seeding spot and has a slight advantage in the group draw. The Paris Eger women's football team failed to win the Ligue 1 title last season, so it is really possible that they will be placed in the same group as the Madrid Kings women's football team.
of.
Before the men's UEFA Champions League grouping, the women's UEFA Champions League first draws lots.
In the end, Li Qingqing's Madrid Kings were not placed in the same group as Paris Eger Women's Football Team, but were placed with Insubre Women's Football Team, Westin Athletic Women's Football Team, and Portuguese Women's Football Team.
There is basically no team in this group that can threaten the Madrid Kings women's football team. It can be said that Li Qingqing's participation in the Champions League knockout rounds is a certainty.
After the UEFA Champions League women's football draw, it's the men's UEFA Champions League group draw.
There have always been various rumors about group draws, such as artificial manipulation, so that whoever you want can meet whomever you want.
Some people also think that group drawing is a purely random allocation method based on luck.
In fact, both of these guesses are wrong.
The Champions League draw is not completely random, but contains traces of artificial arrangement.
But it is impossible to say that this person can arrange whatever he wants.
The thirty-two teams in the Champions League are divided into eight groups, and these eight groups are divided into upper and lower halves, that is to say, Groups A to D are in the upper half, and Groups E to H are in the lower half.
Different halves correspond to the two match days of Tuesday and Wednesday, this is done to facilitate television broadcasts.
Due to television broadcast needs, teams in the same national league must be equally divided into two halves.
For example, if there are four teams in La Liga participating in the Champions League group stage this season, then two teams must be assigned to the upper half and two teams to the lower half.
If there is a league with five participating teams, then there will be three teams in each half zone and two teams in each half zone.
Broadcasters in various countries will provide UEFA with a specific half-zone avoidance principle for their national league teams before the draw. Generally speaking, the two most eye-catching teams are divided into different half zones, such as the Madrid Kings.
and Catalonia must be arranged in different halves, so that on Tuesday and Wednesday there will be a heavyweight team's game that attracts attention.
The Spanish TV station can broadcast the match of the Madrid Kings on one day and the Catalan United match on the same day. Maximize the influence of the two teams and ensure the ratings and the rights of advertising sponsors. There will be no such thing as the Catalan United and the Madrid Kings.
When the game is played on the same day, the ratings of the two game days are seriously imbalanced.
UEFA will launch a half-zone avoidance list before the draw. Through this list, in fact, a certain team may be basically limited to a small range in which group it may be in.
If Catalonia is drawn into the top half, then Madrid Kings can only go to the bottom half group.
Madrid Pirates and Valentia must also be divided into different halves, and coupled with the avoidance rule that teams from the same league cannot be in the same group, the two teams are assigned to four groups, and the probability of 1/2 is not impossible.
Irregular random drawing.
In addition, there are some rules that will also affect the group results. These rules may not even be football rules, but other factors.
For example, the Russian team must not be in the same group as the Ukrainian team...
As for why, everyone knows.
※※※
The first team to be drawn out was Catalonia United. They were assigned to Group H, the bottom half.
This means that Madrid will definitely be in the top four groups in the top half.
Sure enough, when the Madrid Kings were drawn, the only groups available for the draw were the top half of A, B, C, and D.
But because Valentia was assigned to Group A at that time, it was definitely impossible for the Kings of Madrid to go to Group A, so there were only three groups B, C, and D to choose from.
In the end, this super big catfish was assigned to Group B. The first-tier team in the same group was the Serie A champion Turin Bulls.
Leeds City, as last season's Europa League champions, also occupies a seeded team spot in this season's Champions League group stage.
They were drawn into Group G.
Seeing the result of the draw, He Feng, the commentator of CCTV Sports Channel who broadcast the draw ceremony live, laughed: "Ha, bottom half! Leeds City is in the bottom half, they are very likely to encounter Madrid Pirates!"
Because both Kings of Madrid and Valentia have been drawn into the upper half, and there is currently only one La Liga team, Catalan United, in the lower half. According to the principle of reciprocity, Madrid Pirates will definitely be in the lower half. And they cannot compete with Catalan United.
With the same points in Group H, the chance of meeting Leeds City is indeed greatly increased...
So when one of the two lottery guests held a note with "Leeds City" printed on it, and the other held up a note with "Group G" printed on it.
On the contrary, no one was very surprised.
He Feng laughed and said: "Group G! Leeds City! Aha! Pirates of Madrid were assigned to Group G with Leeds City! Finally, there will be a 'Chinese Derby' in this year's Champions League group stage!"
Although there are four Chinese players participating in this year's Champions League main draw, there has never been a situation where two Chinese players met in the previous draws.
Now Hu Lai and Zhou Zijing will meet in the Champions League group stage, which satisfies many people's wish to watch the Champions League "Chinese Derby".
In front of the TV, Li Qingqing turned to look at Hu Lai. Seeing the shocked expression on his face, Li Qingqing couldn't help but laugh: "Congratulations, Hu Lai, you can 'go home'!"
※※※
Attached:
The top 32 groups of the UEFA Champions League for the 2027-2028 season:
Group A: Lyon (France), Tramed (England), Valentia (Spain), Phantom of Belgrade (Serbia);
Group B: Turin Bulls (Italy), Madrid Kings (Spain), St. Petersburg Metallurgy (Russia), Piraeus (Greece);
Group C: Manchester United (England), Alvara (Portugal), Vesseldorf (Germany), Roma (Italy);
Group D: Blue and White Munich (Germany), Bay Lighthouse (Turkey), Rotterdam Elite (Netherlands), Haken (Denmark);
Group E: Athletic Amsterdam (Netherlands), Stan Park Rangers (England), Antwerp City (Belgium), Saxonystadt (Germany);
Group F: Portuguese (Portugal), Insoubre (Italy), London Bridge (England), Bordeaux Sporting (France);
Group G: Leeds City (England), Pirates of Madrid (Spain), Ruhr Rhine (Germany), Kiev (Ukraine);
Group H: Catalonia (Spain), Paris Eger (France), Vesuvius (Italy), Moscow Golden Spike (Russia)
