UEFA Champions League: Draws hold in Monaco 5 pm Nigeria time as EPL, La Liga giants know opponents
UEFA Champions League: Draws hold in Monaco 5 pm Nigeria time as EPL, La Liga giants know opponents
Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle United will discover their Champions League group stage opponents in Thursday’s draw.
Pep Guardiola’s City are the European Cup holders after beating Inter Milan 1-0 in Istanbul in last season’s final, when Rodri’s winner sealed the Treble.
Premier League runners-up Arsenal are returning to Europe’s top club competition for the first time since 2016-17 and Mikel Arteta will be involved in his first Champions League matches as a manager.
Winning the Carabao Cup and securing a top-four finish was viewed as a successful first season at Manchester United for Erik ten Hag, and the three-time European Cup winners have not made it beyond the quarter-finals since 2011.
Newcastle United are making their first appearance in the Champions League since 2002-03.
When is the draw?
The Champions League draw is on Thursday, August 31. It should begin at 5 pm Nigeria time.
Where is the draw?
At the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
What are the Champions League group stage pots?
There are eight Champions League groups of four clubs, each drawn from four pots. The Champions League and Europa League holders are always in pot one, along with winners of the continent’s six strongest leagues. Pots two, three, and four are arranged by the Uefa coefficient. The pots for this year’s Champions League are as follows:
The final placings were decided after the second leg of the three remaining Champions League play-offs on Wednesday night which are:
PSV 5 Rangers 1 (7-3 agg)
Antwerp 2 AEK Athens 1 (3-1 agg)
Copenhagen 1 Rakow 1 (2-1 agg)
Can teams from the same country draw each other?
No. Teams from the same country cannot meet in the Champions League until the quarter-finals, so there will be no all-Premier League ties.
This also means the options available for your team can narrow considerably as the draw progresses.
For example, if Newcastle draws Barcelona as their pot one opponent
, their pot two opponents cannot be Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid.
With Arsenal and Man Utd also in pot two, this would leave just Inter, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Porto as possible pot two opponents.
Who are Manchester City’s possible opponents?
Pot two: Real Madrid, Inter, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Porto
Pot three: Shakhtar Donetsk, Salzburg, AC Milan, Braga, Lazio, Red Star Belgrade, PSV, Copenhagen
Pot four: Real Sociedad, Galatasaray, Celtic, Union Berlin, Lens, Antwerp, Young Boys
Best-case scenario: Man City, Porto, Salzburg, Young Boys
Worst-case scenario: Man City, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Galatasaray
Who are Arsenal’s possible opponents?
Pot one: Sevilla, Barcelona, Napoli, Bayern Munich, PSG, Benfica, Feyenoord
Pot three: Shakhtar Donetsk, Salzburg, AC Milan, Braga, Lazio, Red Star Belgrade, PSV, Copenhagen
Pot four: Real Sociedad, Galatasaray, Celtic, Union Berlin, Lens, Antwerp, Young Boys
Best-case scenario: Feyenoord, Arsenal, Copenhagen, Antwerp
Worst-case scenario: Bayern Munich, Arsenal, AC Milan, Real Sociedad
Who are Manchester United’s possible opponents?
Pot one: Sevilla, Barcelona, Napoli, Bayern Munich, PSG, Benfica, Feyenoord
Pot three: Shakhtar Donetsk, Salzburg, AC Milan, Braga, Lazio, Red Star Belgrade, PSV, Young Boys
Pot four: Real Sociedad, Galatasaray, Celtic, Union Berlin, Lens, Antwerp, Young Boys
Best-case scenario: Feyenoord, Manchester United, Copenhagen, Antwerp
Worst-case scenario: Bayern Munich, Manchester United, AC Milan, Real Sociedad
Who are Newcastle United’s possible opponents?
Pot one: Sevilla, Barcelona, Napoli, Bayern Munich, PSG, Benfica, Feyenoord
Pot two: Real Madrid, Inter, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Porto
Pot three: Shakhtar Donetsk, Salzburg, AC Milan, Braga, Lazio, Red Star Belgrade, PSV
Best-case scenario: Feyenoord, Porto, Copenhagen, Newcastle United
Worst-case scenario: Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Newcastle United
When will the group stage games be played?
Matchday one: September 19&20
Matchday two: October 3&4
Matchday three: October 24&25
Matchday four: November 7&8
Matchday five: November 28&29
Matchday six: December 12&13
The order of fixtures will be confirmed in the hours after the draw. In each match week, two English clubs will play on Tuesday night and two on Wednesday. Unusually, preventing two London clubs from playing at home on the same night is not a consideration with Arsenal the capital’s only representative. The Manchester clubs will not play at home on the same night.
