No matter the sport of choice or how comical one’s failure to retain math skills past elementary school, there is one mental muscle American sports fans are comfortable flexing – calculating playoff math.
The primary objective is to check in on your own team, but anyone in the habit of doing playoff math knows it’s equally fun to fixate on other teams’ fates. The more permutations, the better – days of such magnitude are more exciting when the stakes are high for as many teams as possible, and increasingly boring when the scenarios are straightforward. Complications are encouraged; after all, punching numbers into formulas is much more fun when a spot in the playoffs is on the line than it ever was in class.
It may be a storied staple of American sports, but the frenetic chase for spots on the table will find an unexpected, but welcome new home in Europe on Wednesday, when 18 games in the UEFA Champions League take place at the same time in the finale of the competition’s new-look league phase. Playoff math’s European soccer debut might just be bigger and better, too — all but nine of the 36 teams in the league phase are still alive, and not a single one of them has locked in their seeding. There’s at least something on the line in 16 out of 18 matches.
Don’t miss any of the Champions League. As always, you can catch all of our coverage across Paramount+, CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Golazo Network all season long.
UEFA Champions League: Barcelona’s Jules Kounde, Man City’s Kevin De Bruyne and players to watch on Matchday 8 Chuck Booth
What’s at stake on Matchday 8
Like a regular season finale, there are a few boring scenarios. Liverpool and Barcelona have already booked direct passageway to the round of 16 and the odds are high that they finish one and two, respectively. Just about everything else is up for grabs, though, and there’s much the Champions League is borrowing from its counterparts on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The teams that join Liverpool and Barcelona in the top eight will earn a pair of bye weeks and a spot in the round of 16, and those ranked ninth through 24th will face off against each other for their own berths in the last 16. The remaining eight will simply pack their bags and go home, earning a long spring to ruminate over what exactly went wrong for them.
The Champions League will also take a page out of other sports by placing a newfound value on seeding. Ranking is rarely consequential in soccer; the previous Champions League format and current World Cup structure essentially marks teams as
Champions League recreates magic of American sports’ playoff push with chaotic 18 game league phase finale
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