AE Live delivers digital draw services for UEFA competitions

The UEFA Champions League and Conference League are back for 2024-25, soon to be followed by the Europa League, with all three offering high profile draws and the Champions League also bringing an expanded and altered competition structure.

The successful draws for all three tournaments were delivered by AE Live, which offers draw services to UEFA. The draws were preceded by two press briefings – firstly in Warsaw and then in Monaco – to explain how the process would work. AE Live’s CSA Gordon Vince and CTO Dave Gill joined the press conference alongside personnel from UEFA.

SVG Europe spoke to Gill about the live draws, how the process began and what happened on the day.

Can you briefly describe the project?

The project is delivering draw services for UEFA across all of their competitions. This ranges from the core logic that is used to determine the draw, to the competition-based printouts of the draw results that are shared to the media/clubs after the draws. Additionally, we provide information feeds to the conductors in order to assist with the draw and also GFX services for inside the venue from where the draw is taking place and, where required, TV broadcast GFX services.

Dave Gill, AE Live

This project includes covering what are called ‘physical’ draws, where all balls are drawn by a human, and UEFA’s new hybrid ‘digital’ draw, which combines a physical aspect where a human draws a ball, but a computer takes over and determines the opponents and fixtures while adhering to the rules provided by UEFA.

This digital concept was used by UEFA for the three draws which took place in Monaco across 29-30 August. We used Vizrt, our long-term and trusted partner, to deliver the auditorium giant screen and broadcast graphics.

Take us through the timelines for this year’s draws.

The contract started on 1 June 2024, with the first draw for AE taking place on 7 June, covering the first round of both the UEFA Women’s U17 & Women’s U19 Championships.

The number of draws for each year will differ, but there will be approximately 60 different draws taking place within each football ‘season’ (June to May) with these largely taking place at UEFA’s HQ in Nyon, Switzerland. Additionally draws will take place in the nations hosting those tournaments with draws pencilled in for Slovakia, Faroe Islands and Poland to name three of several over the course of this season.

The digital concept, which we delivered in Monaco, was one which AE Live have been working on since August 2023 where, as part of the RFP process, we had to demonstrate our ability to deliver the digital concept in order to potentially win the contract.

Were the live draws a success?

Yes. It was great to see our hard work pay off and cement what is already a great relationship with UEFA. This massive project started almost a year ago, and was not without its challenges along the way. However, from the moment the team arrived onsite, things went without a hitch. UEFA was very happy which was evidenced by their hugs and high-fives at the end of the UECL draw.

What makes this project special?

The digital concept is one that UEFA have been discussing for six years, and something that they were really keen to introduce in the 2024-27 cycle of the men’s club competitions. Being able to realise that for them is a huge thing for us at AE Live.

Are you the draw partner for any other federations?

Other continental federations include AFC and CAF along with global federation FIFA.