Following the completion of the competition’s qualification process, the pots for the 2023/24 Champions League group stage draw have officially been confirmed.
PSV Eindhoven, Royal Antwerp, and FC Copenhagen advanced to the next round after defeating Rangers, AEK Athens, and Rakow Czestochowa in their respective qualification play-offs on Wednesday night.
The Champions League proper begins next month with the group stage, which begins on September 19 and 20. There are 32 teams in total, divided into eight groups of four. Each nation may only have one club in a group.
The groups will be formed by drawing one team from each of the four seeding pots.
Pot 1 has been set in stone for months, as it includes the Champions League holders, Europa League winners, and champions of UEFA’s six highest-ranked nations who did not qualify by winning any of the aforementioned tournaments.
The other three pots are set by UEFA’s coefficient rankings, which are based on all European clubs’ results in UEFA club competitions.
Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, and Newcastle are the four English teams in the group stage, with one Scottish team, Celtic, also making the cut.
The different pots will look like this, according to X account UEFA Rankings:
Pot 1: Man City, Sevilla, Barcelona, Napoli, Bayern Munich, PSG, Benfica, Feyenoord.
Pot 2: Real Madrid, Manchester United, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Porto, Arsenal.
Pot 3: Shakhtar Donetsk, Red Bull Salzburg, AC Milan, Braga, PSV Eindhoven, Lazio, Red Star Belgrade, FC Copenhagen.
Pot 4: Young Boys, Real Sociedad, Galatasaray, Celtic, Newcastle United, Union Berlin, Royal Antwerp, RC Lens.
The group stage draw for the Champions League will take place at 5pm BST on Friday, August 31.
It will be hosted at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco for the first time in three years.
Last year, the draw took place in Istanbul – the city hosting the final. This season, Wembley Stadium in London is hosting the final for the first time since 2013.
