MyWheelName.com Guides

Running a Champions League Sweepstake

By My Wheel Name TeamPublished July 25, 20262 min read

The Champions League sweepstake is one of the few office traditions that genuinely works, because the field is large enough for a random draw to be interesting and small enough that everyone gets a real club.

The format changed, and it matters

From the 2024 and 2025 season the competition replaced eight groups of four with a single 36 team league phase. Every club plays eight matches against eight different opponents, and all the results feed one table.

The top eight go straight through to the round of 16, while places nine to 24 fight through a playoff round. For a sweepstake that's an improvement: a drawn minnow now gets marquee fixtures the old group draw might never have produced.

Running it so nobody argues

A sweepstake people trust

  1. Freeze the entrant list first: Collect everyone taking part before you open the wheel. Adding a late entrant after the first spin is where sweepstakes lose credibility.
  2. Turn on Remove Winners: Each drawn club leaves the wheel, so nobody can be assigned the same team twice and the draw covers the field evenly.
  3. Spin where people can see: Full Screen Mode on a shared display or a screen share. A witnessed draw settles arguments a spreadsheet never will.
  4. Screenshot the assignments: Keep the record until the final. Memories of who drew whom become unreliable the moment there's a prize involved.

When there are more clubs than people

This is the usual situation, and there are two reasonable ways to handle it.

  • Deal every club out, giving each person several teams. More involvement, and almost everyone stays interested into the knockout rounds.
  • Give everyone one club and leave the rest undrawn. Simpler, but most participants are out early.
  • For a middle option, draw one club each from the seeded clubs and one from the rest, so nobody has only long shots.
  • If several people can't be there for the draw, spin for them and send the screenshot rather than letting them pick later.

The long shot is the point

Real Madrid have more titles than double the next club, which tells you how uneven the competition's history is. That's exactly why drawing a qualifier is worth something.

A sweepstake where everyone secretly wants the favourites isn't much of a sweepstake. The clubs that scraped through qualifying are what make the draw worth watching.

Questions, answered

How does the new Champions League format work?

Since the 2024 and 2025 season there's a single 36 team league phase rather than eight groups. Each club plays eight matches against eight different opponents, the top eight go straight to the round of 16, and places nine to 24 enter a playoff round.

How do I make sure nobody draws the same club?

Turn on Remove Winners in the Options menu. Each drawn club leaves the wheel, so the draw covers the field without repeats and you can spin through the whole list in one session.

What if there are more clubs than participants?

Either deal every club out so people hold several, which keeps more participants involved late, or give one each and leave the rest undrawn. A middle option is one seeded club and one outsider per person.

How do I prove the draw was fair?

Spin in Full Screen Mode where everyone can see it, and screenshot the assignments immediately. A witnessed draw plus a saved record settles the arguments that a private spreadsheet always attracts.

Does the wheel update each season?

Yes. The qualifying clubs change every year, so the wheel reflects the current field rather than carrying last season's participants.