Pots set for Champions League group stage draw

Pots set for Champions League group stage draw

The pots for the 2022-23 Champions League group stage draw have been confirmed after Dinamo Zagreb, FC Copenhagen and Rangers secured the final three places on Wednesday evening.

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The draw will take place in Istanbul, Turkey on Thursday at 4 p.m. GMT, midday ET when the 32 teams will be split into eight groups of four.

Pot 1 contains the titleholders of the Champions League and the Europa League (Eintracht Frankfurt), plus the champions of Europe’s top six leagues — the Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and the Primeira Liga. As Real Madrid secured the league and UCL Double there is a vacant place among the top seeds and that goes to the champions of the Eredivisie — Ajax.

Pots 2 through to 4 are ordered on UEFA coefficient, which measures results and performance in Europe over a five-year period.

Pot 2 will include Liverpool and the other English teams, Chelsea and Tottenham, plus Barcelona and Juventus.

Borussia Dortmund could face a tough group as they will be in Pot 3.

One team from each pot is drawn into a group, which cannot contain more than one club from a single league.

POT 1
Real Madrid
Eintracht Frankfurt
Manchester City
AC Milan
Bayern Munich
Paris Saint-Germain
FC Porto
Ajax

POT 2
Liverpool
Chelsea
Barcelona
Juventus
Atletico Madrid
Sevilla
RB Leipzig
Tottenham Hotspur

POT 3
Borussia Dortmund
FC Salzburg
Shakhtar Donetsk
Inter Milan
Napoli
Benfica
Sporting CP
Bayer Leverkusen

POT 4
Rangers
Dinamo Zagreb
Marseille
FC Copenhagen
Club Brugge
Celtic
Viktoria Plzen
Maccabi Haifa

Match dates:
Matchday 1: Sept. 6-7
Matchday 2: Sept. 13-14
Matchday 3: Oct. 4-5
Matchday 4: Oct. 11-12
Matchday 5: Oct. 25-26
Matchday 6: Nov. 1-2