Who might Bayern Munich face in the 2024 edition of the UEFA Champions League group stage? Frankly, it’s a little hard to tell. The new CL format starts this year, and from a fan’s perspective, it’s hard to know what to expect.
In short, here’s what we know:
- 36 teams will take part in the draw, divided into four pots of nine teams each.
- Each team will face off against eight other teams during the group stage, two from each pot.
- Each team will play four home and four away games, one each against one of each pot.
Does that make it clear? No? Well, tough luck, you’ll have to deal with it. The draw will be conducted by a computer this year, because not even UEFA can really figure out what the hell is going on any more.
The pots, as they stand, are follows:
Pot 1:
Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool FC, Inter Milan, PSG, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, FC Barcelona
Pot 2:
Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, AC Milan
Pot 3:
Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Celtic + others TBD
Pot 4:
Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest + others TBD
One final round of qualifying is scheduled on Wednesday night, after which the pots will be finalized.
How it works:
Teams from the same country cannot face each other, so Bayern Munich cannot face Leverkusen, BVB, Leipzig, or Stuttgart in the group stage. Additionally, a team can only draw a maximum of two sides from the same country, so drawing three English or three Spanish teams is out of the question.
Just to make it easier to understand, Bayern Munich will end up with the following fixture list once everything is said and done:
- One team from Pot 1 (home) + one team from Pot 1 (away)
- One team from Pot 2 (home) + one team from Pot 2 (away)
- One team from Pot 3 (home) + one team from Pot 3 (away)
- One team from Pot 4 (home) + one team from Pot 4 (away)
For eight games total. Each game is worth three points, tabulated on a joint league table consisting of all 36 teams. Teams placed 1-8 in the joint table directly qualify to the Round of 16. Teams that place 9th to 16th will face off against teams placed 17th to 24th in a two-legged qualifying round, with the winners advancing to the Champions League Ro16 and the losers dropping to the UEFA Europa League. Teams placed 25th to 36th get eliminated from Europe altogether.
So, Bayern Munich could, theoretically, get a draw that looks something like this:
- Vs Real Madrid (home), vs Man City (away)
- Vs Arsenal (home), vs Atletico Madrid (away)
- Vs Sporting Lisbon (home), vs Celtic (away)
- Vs Girona (home), vs Brest (away)
For example.
Who do you want Bayern Munich to face in the group stages this year? Can the team go undefeated as usual? Do you have any special fixtures in mind? Let us know in the comments below!
