Date: Friday, August 9

Time:

Venue: Nyon, Switzerland

The playoff round of the Champions League is split into two groups. There is the League Route, which is comprised of those teams that qualified into this competition through league play, with five teams— Arsenal, AC Milan, Schalke 04, Real Sociedad and Pacos de Ferreira—qualifying directly for the playoff round.

Then there is the Champions Route, those teams that won their respective leagues and have qualified for this round by winning in previous rounds over other champions. All 10 teams in this section advanced through the third qualifying round.

Based on coefficients, the teams in each Route are then broken into two groups and put into two pots, where they will be drawn against a team from the other pot. So, for instance, Arsenal cannot play AC Milan, Schalke 04, Zenit St. Petersburg or Olympique Lyonnais, since, based on coefficients, those teams are in the same pot as Arsenal.

The teams that draw together will play a home-and-away playoff round, and the 10 winners will join the 22 automatic qualifiers in the Champions League group stage.

There is potential for controversy, however, as both Fenerbahce and Metalist Kharkiv could be found ineligible for the tournament. From the Associated Press