Back in February, Borussia Dortmund were sitting in lowly 11th place with a brand new manager and almost no prospect of UEFA Champions League Football, and a bleak outlook for qualifying for any European competition next season. But thanks to a strong finish to the season which included five consecutive wins and a run which saw them earn 22 of a possible 24 points, the Black and Yellows found themselves sneaking into the UEFA Champions League on the final matchday, leapfrogging SC Freiburg.
In seasons before the new UCL format, a fourth placed finish would have seen BVB land in Pot Four, the least favorable of the pots for the draw. Yet the new format of seeding teams into the four pots is based on each squad’s four year European coefficient. As things stand, Borussia Dortmund have the 8th highest coefficient in Europe, meaning they will be one of the nine teams in Pot One for next season’s UEFA Champions League.
What this means is that BVB’s recent performances, especially in Europe in recent years, have far exceeded much of their competition. Borussia Dortmund’s run to the Champions League final last season certainly helped the cause. The teams joining the Black and Yellow in Pot One, with higher European Coefficients are: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, PSG, Inter Milan, and Chelsea. Also joining BVB in Pot One, but with a lower European Coefficient, is FC Barcelona.
The new UEFA Champions League format pits teams against one another in eight League Phase matches, combining a single League table. The top eight teams advance to the Last Sixteen of the competition while the next sixteen places compete in seeded, two-legged playoff matches.