THE DRAW for the group stage of the Champions League will take place at 4pm today.
The best club competition in the world returns with its usual heavy hitters, plus new and older teams taking part.
The likes of Rangers and Celtic will both play in the event for the first time in 15-years. The likes of Manchester United and Arsenal miss out once again.
Here are the details for the draw today.
Who's next? 🏆#UCLdraw || #UCL pic.twitter.com/X7WBVX4LWl
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 25, 2022
Where does it take place
The UEFA Champions League group stage draw will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday 25 August, and will be streamed live from 9:30 PM IST.
What time does it take place
It will take place at 5pm Irish and UK time, but these UEFA draws are a pain, and usually drag on BT Sport 1 will show the draw live, with their coverage starting at 4.45pm. There will also be a youtube link of the draw
What TV channel is it on?
What are the groups
Champions League Group Stage Pots
Pot 1 Real Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt, Manchester City, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, PSG, Porto, Ajax
Pot 2 Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, RB Leipzig, Tottenham
Pot 3 Borussia Dortmund, RB Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter Milan, Napoli, Sporting Lisbon, Bayern Leverkusen, Olympic Marseille
Pot 4 Club Brugge ,Celtic, Maccabi Haifa, Copenhagen, Dinamo Zagreb, Viktoria Plzen, Rangers, Benfica
🏴 First time since 2007/08 Celtic and Rangers are both in the group stage...#UCLdraw || #UCL pic.twitter.com/hKNv1OlGfv
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 25, 2022
How does the draw work
The 32 teams from 15 different countries go into groups of four playing home-and-away round-robin games. Teams from the same country cannot be in the same group. The top two in each group advance to the knockout stage next year. Top seeds are the winners of last season’s Champions League and Europa League, Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt, plus six winners of the highest-ranked domestic leagues. The other 24 teams are seeded according to UEFA ranking based on European results in the past five seasons. Liverpool is ranked highest of the 24 and Maccabi Haifa is lowest.
WORLD CUP SCHEDULE
Because the World Cup in Qatar starts Nov. 20, these Champions League groups start early on Sept. 6 and end five weeks sooner than usual on Nov. 2.
