The return of the UEFA Champions League for the 2022/23 campaign is almost upon us following the final round of play-off ties earlier this week, meaning that the group stage draw quickly follows in order to determine who will be playing who.
Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur will all be waiting in anticipation to find out who they will be pitted against over the next three months, while current holders Real Madrid, as well as the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, also return.
Here is all you need to know about the draw for this season’s Champions League group stage, including when it is, how you can watch and who’s involved.
When is the Champions League group stage draw?
The draw for the 2022-23 Champions League group stage will take place at 5pm on Thursday, August 25 in Istanbul, Turkey - the host city for this season’s final.
How to watch
The draw will be streamed live from 5pm on UEFA’s website as well as their YouTube channel.
Alternatively, the draw will also be televised on BT Sport 1, with coverage beginning at 4:45pm.
Who is your favourite to win the 2022-23 Champions League? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Who’s involved
Pot 1
Real Madrid (ESP, Champions League holders)
Eintracht Frankfurt (GER, Europa League holders)
Manchester City (ENG)
AC Milan (ITA)
Bayern München (GER)
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Porto (POR)
Ajax (NED)
Pot 2
Liverpool (ENG)
Chelsea (ENG)
Barcelona (ESP)
Juventus (ITA)
Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
Sevilla (ESP)
RB Leipzig (GER)
Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
Pot 3
Borussia Dortmund (GER)
Salzburg (AUT)
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
Inter (ITA)
Napoli (ITA)
Benfica (POR)
Sporting CP (POR)
Bayer Leverkusen (GER)
Pot 4
Rangers (SCO)
Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)
Marseille (FRA)
Copenhagen (DEN)
Club Brugge (BEL)
Celtic (SCO)
Viktoria Plzen (CZE)
Maccabi Haifa (ISR)
How the draw works
The draw is made up of 32 teams, of which 26 are automatic qualifiers and the remaining six are the play-off round winners from this week’s ties that took place on Tuesday, August 23 and Wednesday, August 24, and are split into four pots of eight teams.
Pot 1 contains the 2021-22 Champions League and Europa League winners, and the champions of the top six associations based on their 2021 UEFA country coefficients. The remaining teams are placed into Pots 2, 3 and 4 based on their 2022 UEFA club coefficients.
A team from each pot is then drawn into eight groups of four teams, although teams from the same nation cannot be placed together.
Format
The four teams in each of the eight groups will play each other twice, home and away, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout stages next year.
The third placed-teams will be transferred to the Europa League knockout round play-offs, while the fourth placed teams will be eliminated from European competition completely.
Because of the 2022 FIFA World Cup taking place in November, the Champions League group stage will therefore be crammed into an eight week period, beginning on September 6/7 and ending on November 1/2.
Key dates
Matchday 1: 6/7 September
Matchday 2: 13/14 September
Matchday 3: 4/5 October
Matchday 4: 11/12 October
Matchday 5: 25/26 October
Matchday 6: 1/2 November
Round of 16 draw: 7 November
