Champions League draw completely redone after ‘material error’

PARIS – The draw for the last 16 of the Champions League is to be "entirely redone" after a technical error, European football's governing body Uefa said on Monday.

Uefa blamed a "material error" due to a "technical problem with the software of an external service provider" as it announced that the draw for the first knockout round of its flagship competition would be redone at 16:00 SA time.

Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) December 13, 2021

“Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16,” Uefa tweeted from the @ChampionsLeague account on Twitter.

“As a result of this, the draw has been declared void and will be entirely redone.”

In the first draw, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain were paired together, with fans looking forward to a duel between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Six-times former winners Bayern Munich were set to play Spanish champions Atletico Madrid.

AFP