GroupABCDEFGH
WinnerBayernArsenalReal MadridReal SociedadAtletico de MadridDortmundMan CityBarcelona
Runner-upCopenhagenPSVNapoliInterLazioParisLeipzigFC Porto
  • Runners-up are matched with group winners
  • No matches allowed between teams from same association
  • No matches allowed between teams from same group
These rules lead to 10595 possible results of the draw in 2023. Intuitive: Fair draw should give each result a chance of 1/10595 = 9.438e-05 = 0.009438%.
UEFA's draw mechanism is quite complicated, for a description see Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports (2013), 9(3), 249-270. At first glance, it appears to be fair, however: closer inspection shows that probabilities of UEFA's draw mechanism are slightly different, ranging from 0.008334% (approx. 1/11999) to 0.009919% (approx. 1/10082), corresponding to relative differences from -11.698% to 5.093%. Tableau with the smallest probability of being drawn by UEFA (approx. 1/11999) is
Copenhagen vs. Barcelona
Lazio vs. Real Sociedad
PSV vs. Dortmund
Paris vs. Arsenal
Napoli vs. Man City
Leipzig vs. Real Madrid
Inter vs. Atletico de Madrid
FC Porto vs. Bayern
Tableau with the highest probability of being drawn by UEFA (approx. 1/10082) is
Copenhagen vs. Dortmund
Lazio vs. Arsenal
PSV vs. Barcelona
Paris vs. Man City
Napoli vs. Atletico de Madrid
Leipzig vs. Real Madrid
Inter vs. Bayern
FC Porto vs. Real Sociedad
The draw procedure employed by UEFA also leads to the probabilities of pairwise matches being slightly different from their values under a perfectly fair draw.
GroupTeamDrawOpponents ranked by decreasing probability
Most probable2nd most3rd most4th most5th most6th most7th most
A BayernFair Paris
17.0835
FC Porto
16.5833
Inter
16.5833
Lazio
16.5833
Napoli
16.5833
PSV
16.5833
UEFA Paris
17.3008
FC Porto
16.5398
Inter
16.5398
Lazio
16.5398
Napoli
16.5398
PSV
16.5398
CopenhagenFair Dortmund
17.0835
Man City
14.5824
Arsenal
13.6668
Atletico de Madrid
13.6668
Barcelona
13.6668
Real Madrid
13.6668
Real Sociedad
13.6668
UEFA Dortmund
17.3008
Man City
14.7547
Arsenal
13.5889
Atletico de Madrid
13.5889
Barcelona
13.5889
Real Madrid
13.5889
Real Sociedad
13.5889
B ArsenalFair Leipzig
20.0000
Copenhagen
13.6668
Paris
13.6668
FC Porto
13.1666
Inter
13.1666
Lazio
13.1666
Napoli
13.1666
UEFA Leipzig
20.0000
Copenhagen
13.5889
Paris
13.5889
FC Porto
13.2055
Inter
13.2055
Lazio
13.2055
Napoli
13.2055
PSVFair Bayern
16.5833
Dortmund
16.5833
Man City
14.1671
Atletico de Madrid
13.1666
Barcelona
13.1666
Real Madrid
13.1666
Real Sociedad
13.1666
UEFA Bayern
16.5398
Dortmund
16.5398
Man City
14.0981
Atletico de Madrid
13.2055
Barcelona
13.2055
Real Madrid
13.2055
Real Sociedad
13.2055
C Real MadridFair Leipzig
20.0000
Copenhagen
13.6668
Paris
13.6668
FC Porto
13.1666
Inter
13.1666
Lazio
13.1666
PSV
13.1666
UEFA Leipzig
20.0000
Copenhagen
13.5889
Paris
13.5889
FC Porto
13.2055
Inter
13.2055
Lazio
13.2055
PSV
13.2055
NapoliFair Bayern
16.5833
Dortmund
16.5833
Man City
14.1671
Arsenal
13.1666
Atletico de Madrid
13.1666
Barcelona
13.1666
Real Sociedad
13.1666
UEFA Bayern
16.5398
Dortmund
16.5398
Man City
14.0981
Arsenal
13.2055
Atletico de Madrid
13.2055
Barcelona
13.2055
Real Sociedad
13.2055
D Real SociedadFair Leipzig
20.0000
Copenhagen
13.6668
Paris
13.6668
FC Porto
13.1666
Lazio
13.1666
Napoli
13.1666
PSV
13.1666
UEFA Leipzig
20.0000
Copenhagen
13.5889
Paris
13.5889
FC Porto
13.2055
Lazio
13.2055
Napoli
13.2055
PSV
13.2055
InterFair Bayern
16.5833
Dortmund
16.5833
Man City
14.1671
Arsenal
13.1666
Atletico de Madrid
13.1666
Barcelona
13.1666
Real Madrid
13.1666
UEFA Bayern
16.5398
Dortmund
16.5398
Man City
14.0981
Arsenal
13.2055
Atletico de Madrid
13.2055
Barcelona
13.2055
Real Madrid
13.2055
E Atletico de MadridFair Leipzig
20.0000
Copenhagen
13.6668
Paris
13.6668
FC Porto
13.1666
Inter
13.1666
Napoli
13.1666
PSV
13.1666
UEFA Leipzig
20.0000
Copenhagen
13.5889
Paris
13.5889
FC Porto
13.2055
Inter
13.2055
Napoli
13.2055
PSV
13.2055
LazioFair Bayern
16.5833
Dortmund
16.5833
Man City
14.1671
Arsenal
13.1666
Barcelona
13.1666
Real Madrid
13.1666
Real Sociedad
13.1666
UEFA Bayern
16.5398
Dortmund
16.5398
Man City
14.0981
Arsenal
13.2055
Barcelona
13.2055
Real Madrid
13.2055
Real Sociedad
13.2055
F DortmundFair Copenhagen
17.0835
FC Porto
16.5833
Inter
16.5833
Lazio
16.5833
Napoli
16.5833
PSV
16.5833
UEFA Copenhagen
17.3008
FC Porto
16.5398
Inter
16.5398
Lazio
16.5398
Napoli
16.5398
PSV
16.5398
ParisFair Bayern
17.0835
Man City
14.5824
Arsenal
13.6668
Atletico de Madrid
13.6668
Barcelona
13.6668
Real Madrid
13.6668
Real Sociedad
13.6668
UEFA Bayern
17.3008
Man City
14.7547
Arsenal
13.5889
Atletico de Madrid
13.5889
Barcelona
13.5889
Real Madrid
13.5889
Real Sociedad
13.5889
G Man CityFair Copenhagen
14.5824
Paris
14.5824
FC Porto
14.1671
Inter
14.1671
Lazio
14.1671
Napoli
14.1671
PSV
14.1671
UEFA Copenhagen
14.7547
Paris
14.7547
FC Porto
14.0981
Inter
14.0981
Lazio
14.0981
Napoli
14.0981
PSV
14.0981
LeipzigFair Arsenal
20.0000
Atletico de Madrid
20.0000
Barcelona
20.0000
Real Madrid
20.0000
Real Sociedad
20.0000
UEFA Arsenal
20.0000
Atletico de Madrid
20.0000
Barcelona
20.0000
Real Madrid
20.0000
Real Sociedad
20.0000
H BarcelonaFair Leipzig
20.0000
Copenhagen
13.6668
Paris
13.6668
Inter
13.1666
Lazio
13.1666
Napoli
13.1666
PSV
13.1666
UEFA Leipzig
20.0000
Copenhagen
13.5889
Paris
13.5889
Inter
13.2055
Lazio
13.2055
Napoli
13.2055
PSV
13.2055
FC PortoFair Bayern
16.5833
Dortmund
16.5833
Man City
14.1671
Arsenal
13.1666
Atletico de Madrid
13.1666
Real Madrid
13.1666
Real Sociedad
13.1666
UEFA Bayern
16.5398
Dortmund
16.5398
Man City
14.0981
Arsenal
13.2055
Atletico de Madrid
13.2055
Real Madrid
13.2055
Real Sociedad
13.2055
Teams get the following awards for reaching certain stages:
  • reaching quarter-final is awarded with EUR 10.6 million
  • reaching semi-final is awarded with additional EUR 12.5 million
  • reaching final is awarded with additional EUR 15.5 million
  • winning trophy is awarded with additional EUR 8 million (including award for UEFA Super Cup qualification)
Under a simple model (for details, see Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports (2013), 9(3), 249-270), with strengths being determined by weighted averages of team's UEFA coefficients of the last three years, this leads to the following expected payoffs and probabilities of reaching certain stages:
GroupTeamStrengthDrawProbablity of reaching ... (in percent)Exp. Payoff (EUR)
quarter-finalsemi-finalfinaltrophy
A Bayern14Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
66.9467
66.9241
-0.0226
41.0083
40.9937
-0.0146
23.8300
23.8211
-0.0090
12.4045
12.3997
-0.0047
16,908,391.68
16,902,403.97
-5,987.71
Copenhagen2Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
21.3963
21.3627
-0.0337
3.9971
3.9917
-0.0054
0.6576
0.6568
-0.0008
0.1660
0.1659
-0.0002
2,882,858.70
2,878,477.83
-4,380.87
B Arsenal6Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
47.7146
47.7018
-0.0129
19.0783
19.0729
-0.0054
6.9591
6.9571
-0.0020
3.0634
3.0625
-0.0009
8,766,271.45
8,763,855.97
-2,415.48
PSV3Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
26.2141
26.2337
0.0196
6.7120
6.7160
0.0040
1.5277
1.5284
0.0007
0.4982
0.4984
0.0002
3,894,340.76
3,897,047.79
2,707.02
C Real Madrid15Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
70.5711
70.5703
-0.0008
44.4223
44.4214
-0.0009
26.6470
26.6463
-0.0007
14.0079
14.0075
-0.0004
18,284,246.34
18,283,905.31
-341.03
Napoli12Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
59.6952
59.7275
0.0323
34.1788
34.1961
0.0174
18.3909
18.3996
0.0087
9.3689
9.3732
0.0044
14,200,134.49
14,207,428.89
7,294.40
D Real Sociedad7Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
55.5695
55.5701
0.0006
24.1462
24.1462
-0.0000
9.6348
9.6347
-0.0001
4.4333
4.4333
-0.0001
10,756,703.75
10,756,744.68
40.94
Inter13Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
59.0620
59.0865
0.0246
35.0719
35.0851
0.0132
19.6772
19.6840
0.0068
10.1360
10.1394
0.0034
14,505,406.79
14,510,982.77
5,575.97
E Atletico de Madrid5Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
41.2032
41.1826
-0.0206
14.7289
14.7216
-0.0072
4.7718
4.7695
-0.0023
1.9700
1.9691
-0.0010
7,105,881.43
7,102,360.49
-3,520.94
Lazio1Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
10.6675
10.6766
0.0091
1.1584
1.1592
0.0007
0.1080
0.1080
0.0001
0.0164
0.0164
0.0000
1,293,609.60
1,294,680.01
1,070.41
F Dortmund8.5Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
62.6483
62.6962
0.0480
30.2583
30.2797
0.0214
13.5352
13.5443
0.0090
6.5202
6.5245
0.0043
13,042,578.95
13,052,080.89
9,501.94
Paris10Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
53.6478
53.5713
-0.0765
28.2720
28.2333
-0.0388
13.8846
13.8667
-0.0179
6.8971
6.8883
-0.0088
11,924,544.94
11,908,105.83
-16,439.12
G Man City16Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
72.3634
72.3773
0.0139
46.7213
46.7294
0.0081
28.8671
28.8718
0.0047
15.3385
15.3409
0.0024
19,212,165.32
19,215,569.20
3,403.88
Leipzig11Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
62.0416
62.0416
0.0000
34.0382
34.0381
-0.0001
17.4643
17.4642
-0.0001
8.7846
8.7845
-0.0001
14,240,917.03
14,240,873.22
-43.80
H Barcelona4Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
42.7961
42.7942
-0.0019
13.0566
13.0557
-0.0008
3.6214
3.6211
-0.0003
1.3613
1.3612
-0.0001
6,838,675.74
6,838,320.92
-354.82
FC Porto8.5Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
47.4627
47.4835
0.0208
23.1514
23.1599
0.0085
10.4232
10.4265
0.0033
5.0337
5.0352
0.0015
9,943,273.02
9,947,162.23
3,889.21