GroupABCDEFGH
WinnerManCLiverpoolAjaxRealBayernManULilleJuve
Runner-upPSGAtleticoSportingInterBenficaVillarrealSalzburgChelsea
  • 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 4781 possible results of the draw in 2021. Intuitive: Fair draw should give each result a chance of 1/4781 = 0.00020916 = 0.020916%.
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 0.016988% (approx. 1/5886) to 0.023762% (approx. 1/4208), corresponding to relative differences from -18.778% to 13.604%. Tableau with the smallest probability of being drawn by UEFA (approx. 1/5886) is
PSG vs. Juve
Benfica vs. Lille
Atletico vs. ManU
Villarreal vs. Liverpool
Sporting vs. Bayern
Salzburg vs. Ajax
Inter vs. ManC
Chelsea vs. Real
Tableau with the highest probability of being drawn by UEFA (approx. 1/4208) is
PSG vs. Bayern
Benfica vs. Real
Atletico vs. Juve
Villarreal vs. Liverpool
Sporting vs. ManC
Salzburg vs. Ajax
Inter vs. ManU
Chelsea vs. Lille
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 ManCFair Atletico
18.5317
Inter
18.5317
Villarreal
18.5317
Salzburg
14.9550
Benfica
14.7250
Sporting
14.7250
UEFA Atletico
18.4439
Inter
18.4439
Villarreal
18.4439
Salzburg
15.1657
Benfica
14.7513
Sporting
14.7513
PSGFair Real
19.3892
Juve
17.8205
Liverpool
17.8205
ManU
17.8205
Ajax
13.5746
Bayern
13.5746
UEFA Real
19.3642
Juve
17.8561
Liverpool
17.8561
ManU
17.8561
Ajax
13.5338
Bayern
13.5338
B LiverpoolFair Inter
18.5735
Villarreal
18.5735
PSG
17.8205
Salzburg
15.2060
Benfica
14.9132
Sporting
14.9132
UEFA Inter
18.7080
Villarreal
18.7080
PSG
17.8561
Salzburg
15.0834
Benfica
14.8223
Sporting
14.8223
AtleticoFair Juve
18.5735
ManU
18.5735
ManC
18.5317
Lille
16.2518
Ajax
14.0347
Bayern
14.0347
UEFA Juve
18.7080
ManU
18.7080
ManC
18.4439
Lille
16.1824
Ajax
13.9789
Bayern
13.9789
C AjaxFair Chelsea
21.3763
Atletico
14.0347
Inter
14.0347
Villarreal
14.0347
PSG
13.5746
Salzburg
11.5875
Benfica
11.3575
UEFA Chelsea
21.7702
Atletico
13.9789
Inter
13.9789
Villarreal
13.9789
PSG
13.5338
Salzburg
11.4805
Benfica
11.2788
SportingFair Real
16.0218
Juve
14.9132
Liverpool
14.9132
ManU
14.9132
ManC
14.7250
Lille
13.1562
Bayern
11.3575
UEFA Real
16.3711
Juve
14.8223
Liverpool
14.8223
ManU
14.8223
ManC
14.7513
Lille
13.1321
Bayern
11.2788
D RealFair Chelsea
32.3154
PSG
19.3892
Salzburg
16.2518
Benfica
16.0218
Sporting
16.0218
UEFA Chelsea
31.2707
PSG
19.3642
Salzburg
16.6229
Benfica
16.3711
Sporting
16.3711
InterFair Liverpool
18.5735
ManU
18.5735
ManC
18.5317
Lille
16.2518
Ajax
14.0347
Bayern
14.0347
UEFA Liverpool
18.7080
ManU
18.7080
ManC
18.4439
Lille
16.1824
Ajax
13.9789
Bayern
13.9789
E BayernFair Chelsea
21.3763
Atletico
14.0347
Inter
14.0347
Villarreal
14.0347
PSG
13.5746
Salzburg
11.5875
Sporting
11.3575
UEFA Chelsea
21.7702
Atletico
13.9789
Inter
13.9789
Villarreal
13.9789
PSG
13.5338
Salzburg
11.4805
Sporting
11.2788
BenficaFair Real
16.0218
Juve
14.9132
Liverpool
14.9132
ManU
14.9132
ManC
14.7250
Lille
13.1562
Ajax
11.3575
UEFA Real
16.3711
Juve
14.8223
Liverpool
14.8223
ManU
14.8223
ManC
14.7513
Lille
13.1321
Ajax
11.2788
F ManUFair Atletico
18.5735
Inter
18.5735
PSG
17.8205
Salzburg
15.2060
Benfica
14.9132
Sporting
14.9132
UEFA Atletico
18.7080
Inter
18.7080
PSG
17.8561
Salzburg
15.0834
Benfica
14.8223
Sporting
14.8223
VillarrealFair Juve
18.5735
Liverpool
18.5735
ManC
18.5317
Lille
16.2518
Ajax
14.0347
Bayern
14.0347
UEFA Juve
18.7080
Liverpool
18.7080
ManC
18.4439
Lille
16.1824
Ajax
13.9789
Bayern
13.9789
G LilleFair Chelsea
24.9320
Atletico
16.2518
Inter
16.2518
Villarreal
16.2518
Benfica
13.1562
Sporting
13.1562
UEFA Chelsea
25.1888
Atletico
16.1824
Inter
16.1824
Villarreal
16.1824
Benfica
13.1321
Sporting
13.1321
SalzburgFair Real
16.2518
Juve
15.2060
Liverpool
15.2060
ManU
15.2060
ManC
14.9550
Ajax
11.5875
Bayern
11.5875
UEFA Real
16.6229
ManC
15.1657
Juve
15.0834
Liverpool
15.0834
ManU
15.0834
Ajax
11.4805
Bayern
11.4805
H JuveFair Atletico
18.5735
Villarreal
18.5735
PSG
17.8205
Salzburg
15.2060
Benfica
14.9132
Sporting
14.9132
UEFA Atletico
18.7080
Villarreal
18.7080
PSG
17.8561
Salzburg
15.0834
Benfica
14.8223
Sporting
14.8223
ChelseaFair Real
32.3154
Lille
24.9320
Ajax
21.3763
Bayern
21.3763
UEFA Real
31.2707
Lille
25.1888
Ajax
21.7702
Bayern
21.7702
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 ManC15Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
78.0191
78.0568
0.0377
48.6028
48.6226
0.0198
28.8849
28.8958
0.0109
15.1031
15.1086
0.0055
20,030,783.86
20,039,378.29
8,594.44
PSG13Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
54.8604
54.8629
0.0025
32.3859
32.3845
-0.0014
18.0469
18.0451
-0.0018
9.2805
9.2794
-0.0011
13,403,145.77
13,402,870.21
-275.57
B Liverpool12Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
70.9304
70.8737
-0.0567
40.1348
40.0981
-0.0367
21.3959
21.3748
-0.0211
10.8686
10.8576
-0.0109
16,721,333.62
16,706,586.59
-14,747.03
Atletico6Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
41.0037
40.9946
-0.0091
16.2281
16.2226
-0.0055
5.8779
5.8753
-0.0025
2.5926
2.5914
-0.0012
7,493,382.20
7,491,239.99
-2,142.21
C Ajax8Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
53.4865
53.3842
-0.1023
24.7531
24.7040
-0.0491
10.5844
10.5637
-0.0207
5.0348
5.0251
-0.0097
10,807,064.01
10,786,104.90
-20,959.11
Sporting1Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
10.6767
10.6716
-0.0051
1.1263
1.1256
-0.0007
0.1040
0.1040
-0.0001
0.0157
0.0157
-0.0000
1,289,905.29
1,289,257.11
-648.18
D Real11Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
62.7836
63.1913
0.4076
34.2294
34.4441
0.2147
17.5421
17.6481
0.1061
8.8202
8.8732
0.0530
14,358,376.01
14,449,102.31
90,726.29
Inter5Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
35.8610
35.8424
-0.0187
12.7305
12.7227
-0.0078
4.1153
4.1126
-0.0028
1.7049
1.7037
-0.0012
6,166,847.98
6,163,370.20
-3,477.78
E Bayern16Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
70.2646
70.1636
-0.1010
44.9736
44.9051
-0.0686
27.5704
27.5270
-0.0434
14.5841
14.5608
-0.0233
18,509,883.97
18,482,030.75
-27,853.22
Benfica4Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
31.8323
31.8132
-0.0191
9.7683
9.7613
-0.0070
2.7016
2.6996
-0.0020
1.0135
1.0128
-0.0007
5,095,085.25
5,091,824.94
-3,260.31
F ManU10Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
68.1134
68.0568
-0.0566
35.2757
35.2419
-0.0337
17.0593
17.0417
-0.0176
8.4481
8.4393
-0.0087
14,949,521.51
14,935,883.70
-13,637.81
Villarreal7Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
43.6612
43.6474
-0.0138
18.9187
18.9109
-0.0079
7.5479
7.5442
-0.0037
3.4842
3.4824
-0.0017
8,441,598.31
8,438,440.41
-3,157.90
G Lille2.5Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
32.7090
32.6595
-0.0495
6.9067
6.8962
-0.0106
1.3253
1.3234
-0.0020
0.3837
0.3832
-0.0006
4,566,624.42
4,559,701.33
-6,923.09
Salzburg2.5Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
18.4394
18.4260
-0.0134
4.2037
4.2000
-0.0037
0.8383
0.8375
-0.0008
0.2453
0.2451
-0.0002
2,629,609.66
2,627,587.78
-2,021.88
H Juve9Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
64.5287
64.4588
-0.0699
31.6791
31.6411
-0.0380
14.4504
14.4321
-0.0183
7.0319
7.0230
-0.0089
13,602,294.65
13,586,594.35
-15,700.31
Chelsea14Fair
UEFA
UEFA-Fair
62.8298
62.8971
0.0674
38.0832
38.1193
0.0361
21.9554
21.9750
0.0197
11.3888
11.3986
0.0098
15,734,543.48
15,750,027.15
15,483.67