Teams competing in the Champions League will learn their fates following Thursday’s group stage draw. Here’s what to look out for and why it matters.
The time has come to prepare your mid-week soccer viewing planning now that the Champions League group stage draw is about to take place.
The draw, scheduled for Thursday in Geneva, will feature defending champions Bayern Munich, Europa League champions Sevilla and domestic champions from the top-six performing leagues across the continent.
The 32 teams that have gained entry into the group stage will be drawn into eight group (A to H) featuring four teams each. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage. The third place teams from each group continue on in the Europa League.
The draw was scheduled to take place in Athens, but was instead moved to UEFA’s headquarters and take place behind closed doors because of COVID-19.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the draw:
How the teams will be drawn
Teams will be placed into four Pots (1 to 4). Pot 1 will feature Bayern, Sevilla and six domestic champions hailing from Spain, Italy, France, England, Portugal and Russia.
Pot 1: Bayern Munich, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Juventus, Liverpool, Porto and Zenit St. Petersburg
The remaining 26 teams will be placed in the three remaining pots.
Pot 2: Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea and Ajax
Pot 3 or 4: Dynamo Kiev, RB Leipzig, Inter Milan, Olympiacos, Lazio, Atalanta, Lokomotiv Moscow, Marseille, Club Brugge, Borussia Monchengladbach, Istanbul Basaksehir, Rennes and Ferencvaros
Three more teams will join the final two pots following Wednesday’s conclusion of the preliminary playoff round.
No team can play a club from their own national association. That means, for example, that the four teams from the Premier League can’t meet in the group stage.
A look at the schedule
The group stage’s six matchdays will be played from October through December. The tournament officially opens in October 20.
Here are the group stage dates:
Matchday 1: October 20 and 21
Matchday 2: October 27 and 28
Matchday 3: November 3 and 4
Matchday 4: November 24 and 25
Matchday 5: December 1 and 2
Matchday 6: December 8 and 9
Favorites to win it all
Bayern are in a very strong position to repeat. Real Madrid, Liverpool and Juventus, three teams that are also top seeds, are once again among the favorites to lift the trophy.
The teams in Pot 2 the top seeds will want to avoid are Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Manchester City. These three teams failed miserably in last season’s knockout rounds. Fellow Pot 2 teams like Chelsea and Ajax could also be tricky.
Further down in Pots 3 and 4, RB Leipzig, a surprise semifinalist last season, and Italian sides Inter Milan and Atalanta are also favorites to potentially go deep. Since these three teams will be in Pot 3, expect a “Group of Death” to emerge during the draw.
The final is scheduled for May 29 at Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.