The seeds for the 2023-24 Champions League group stage draw have been set after Manchester City beat Inter Milan 1-0 in Istanbul in the final of this year’s competition.
Man City will take their place in Pot 1 as titleholders along with Sevilla, who won the Europa League last month. The rest of the top pot is made up of the champions of the top six leagues, along with Feyenoord, with the Eredivisie winners promoted from Pot 3 as there’s a vacant spot due to Pep Guardiola’s team also winning the Premier League.
Pots 2-4 are built based on UEFA’s five-year coefficient score, with Newcastle United in Pot 4 as this will be their first European campaign for 11 seasons. It means the Magpies could face a tough return to the Champions League in a group against, for instance, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and AC Milan.
Champions League qualifying will begin with the preliminary round on June 27, with the final playoff round matches taking place on Aug. 29-30. The group stage draw will be held on Friday, Aug. 31, with the first fixtures scheduled for Sept. 19 and 20. Next season the final will be held at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday, June 1.
One team from each pot will be drawn into a group. Teams from the same national association cannot be placed into the same group.
POT 1
Manchester City
Sevilla
Barcelona
Napoli
Bayern Munich
Paris Saint-Germain
Benfica
Feyenoord
POT 2
Real Madrid
Manchester United
Inter Milan
Borussia Dortmund
Atletico Madrid
RB Leipzig
FC Porto
Arsenal
Five teams are certain to be in Pot 3, while the remaining three club will be known after the qualifying process has completed. Real Sociedad are the only already-qualified team who do not know their pot, which could be 3 or 4.
POT 3
Shakhtar Donetsk
FC Salzburg
AC Milan
Lazio
Red Star Belgrade
Four teams, with the lowest coefficient, are sure of being in Pot 4 for the draw.
POT 4
Celtic
Newcastle United
Union Berlin
Lens
