Manchester City will look to retain their Champions League, with the 2024 final set to take place in England… but what are the pots, and when is the group stage draw?
- Manchester City will be looking to retain their Champions League title
- Pep Guardiola’s men defeated Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan in Istanbul
- The 2024 Champions League final is set to take place at Wembley in June
Manchester City will look to retain their Champions League title after Pep Guardiola’s side defeated Inter Milan in Istanbul.
Qualification for this season’s competition is set to get underway on Tuesday, June 27. It will end with the play-offs, which is scheduled to take place on the 22/23 and 29/30 of August.
The 2023-24 campaign will feature Union Berlin, who will be competing in the competition for the first time in their history.
Newcastle United booked their place in the group stage for the first time since the 2002-03 season. Dutch side Feyenoord will also be competing after they won the Eredivisie last season, finishing seven points ahead of PSV.
With the new Champions League season around the corner, what are the pots? When is the group stage draw? Mail Sport provides the answers below.
Manchester City are the current holders of the competition after they defeated Inter Milan
Newcastle United are set to play in the Champions League after finishing fourth in the Premier League
What are the Champions League pots?
Pot One will feature the likes of Manchester City, Barcelona, Napoli and Bayern Munich.
Spanish side Sevilla will also be in Pot One after they defeated Italian outfit Roma in the Europa League final last season.
With Manchester United and Arsenal in Pot Two, Newcastle are the only team who do not know which pot they will be placed in
The Magpies could be drawn into a tough group upon their return to the competition.
Six teams still need to go through the qualifiers and book their place in this season’s Champions League group stage.
The full 2023-24 Champions League pots so far is as follows:
Pot One
- Manchester City
- Sevilla
- Barcelona
- Napoli
- Bayern Munich
- Paris Saint-Germain
- Benfica
- Feyenoord
Pot Two
- Real Madrid
- Manchester United
- Inter Milan
- Borussia Dortmund
- Atletico Madrid
- RB Leipzig
- Porto
- Arsenal
Union Berlin will play Champions League football this season for the first time in their history
Pot Three
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- Red Bull Salzburg
- AC Milan
- Lazio
- Red Star Belgrade
Pot Three or Four
- Newcastle United
- Celtic
- Real Sociedad
Pot Four
The group stage draw for the competition will take place after the final play-off matches in August
When is the group stage draw?
With the second leg of the play-offs set to take place on the 29/30 of August, the group stage draw will take place on Thursday, August 31.
UEFA’s official YouTube channel will likely show live coverage of the draw for fans watching across the world. Last season’s draw got underway at 5pm BST.
For those watching in the United Kingdom, BT Sport are likely to show live coverage of draw.
The 2023-24 Champions League final is set to be held at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, June 1
When are the Champions League group matches?
The first matchday of the 2023-24 Champions League group stage will take place on the 19/20 of September.
This season’s group stage will draw to a close on December 13.
The dates for this season’s Champions League group stage is as follows:
- Matchday 1: 19/20 September 2023
- Matchday 2: 3/4 October 2023
- Matchday 3: 24/25 October 2023
- Matchday 4: 7/8 November 2023
- Matchday 5: 28/29 November 2023
- Matchday 6: 12/13 December 2023
The 2024 final is set to be held at Wembley on Saturday, June 1. It will be the eighth time in the history of the competition that the stadium has hosted the showpiece event.
