UCL group stage draw: Everything you need to know

Europe’s top club competition takes shape on Thursday with the UEFA Champions League draw. Here’s everything you need to know. 

The UEFA Champions League will officially take shape on Thursday with the group stage draw held in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

The 32-team tournament, after a summer of preliminary qualifying rounds, includes 26 clubs that automatically qualified via their own domestic league competitions. The 2021-22 Champions League will feature the biggest clubs in Europe, including defending champions Chelsea, Real Madrid, Juventus and Bayern Munich.

The favorites this season are Paris Saint-Germain, who recently acquired Lionel Messi from Barcelona, and Manchester City. Messi already said he has his sights set on winning the Champions League. Both money-laden clubs have the talent to win it all, but the trophy has eluded them both in recent years despite their star-studded rosters.

https://twitter.com/ChampionsLeague/status/1428338998364233732

The Champions League kicks off on Sept. 14. The final is scheduled to take place on May 28, 2022 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the group stage draw.

How does the draw work?

Teams will be divided into four pots (with eight teams each) to start off the draw. The teams will be placed into eight groups of four teams each.

Pot 1 will include Chelsea, Villareal (the defending Europa League winners) and the champions of the six highest-ranked nations who won their respective league titles: Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, Sporting CP and Lille.

Pots 2, 3 and 4 will depend on club coefficient rankings. No team can play another from their own country in the group stage. For example, none of England’s four teams (Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea) can be placed in the same group.

When will the opening round be played?

The group stage, which features six matchdays, opens on Sept. 14 and 15.

The rest of the schedule is as follows: Matchday 2 (Sept. 28-29); Matchday 3 (Oct. 19-20); Matchday 4 (Nov. 2-3); Matchday 5 (Nov. 23-24); and Matchday 6 (Dec. 6-7).

The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage.

What can we expect?

Anything can happen during the draw. The one thing we can expect are some amazing potential matchups early on. Chelsea, for example, could end up in the same group as PSG. My own simulation of the draw had just that outcome taking place.

In addition, we could see Manchester City and Real Madrid in the same group, along with Inter Milan and Barcelona also having to duke it out twice for a shot at the round of 16.

As always, the draw will be a fun watch in addition to setting many of the storylines we will see and experience over the coming nine months.