The
Champions League draw for the 2020/21 season takes place this week, with the
quartet of Premier League representatives set to learn their fate.
The annual draw for the group stages will take place after the last
remaining play-off round ties are decided on Wednesday.
It was just six short weeks ago that Bayern Munich defeated Paris
Saint-Germain in Lisbon to claim their sixth European Cup, but they will
begin their defence next month alongside 31 other clubs with dreams of
reaching the final at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul next May.
Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea will all be
involved in this season's competition, as Sky Sports explains all you need
to know ahead of this week's draw...
When is the Champions League draw?
The 2020/21 UEFA Champions League group stage draw takes place Thursday at
5pm BST at the RTS studios in Geneva.
The Champions League group stage draw has been moved from Athens and will
now be a behind-closed-doors event at UEFA's headquarters in Switzerland.
European football's governing body confirmed the news on Tuesday, saying to
stage the event in the Greek capital would "violate public health
restrictions and constraints regarding indoor events" in the country.
How does it work?
The six winners of the play-off ties will join the 26 teams that have
already booked their place in the group stage.
There are four teams in each group, one from each 'pot', which theoretically
stops the strongest teams from knocking one another out too early.
The top pot, Pot 1, includes last season's Champions League winners Bayern
Munich and Europa League winners Sevilla, as well as Liverpool and the rest
of the domestic champions from the top-six performing leagues across Europe.
Club coefficient rankings determine Pots 2 to 4 while no team can play a
club from their own association, meaning all Premier League clubs will be in
different groups.
Who is involved in the draw?
Confirmed teams in the draw...
ESP (4): Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla
ENG (4): Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea
ITA (4): Juventus, Inter, Atalanta, Lazio
GER (4): Bayern, Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Borussia Monchengladbach
FRA (3): Paris Saint-Germain, Marseille, Rennes
RUS (2): Zenit Saint Petersburg, Lokomotiv Moscow
POR (1): Porto
BEL (1): Club Brugge
UKR (1): Shakhtar Donetsk
TUR (1): Istanbul Basaksehir
NED (1): Ajax
Who else could join?
The second legs of the play-off round takes place this week:
Slavia Prague (0) vs (0) Midtjylland
Maccabi Tel Aviv (1) vs (2) Red Bull Salzburg
Olympiakos (2) vs (0) Omonia
Molde (3) vs (3) Ferencvaros
Krasnodar (2) vs (1) PAOK
Gent (1) vs (2) Dynamo Kiev
What are the pots?
Manchester United will be in Pot 2 along with Man City and Chelsea
Pot 1: Bayern, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Juventus, Paris
Saint-Germain, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Porto.
Pot 2: Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, Manchester United,
Shakhtar Donetsk, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Ajax.
Pot 3: RB Leipzig, Inter Milan, Lazio, Atalanta, Dynamo Kiev/Gent
Pot 4: Borussia Monchengladbach, Istanbul Basaksehir, Rennes, Slavia
Prague/Midtjylland, Molde/Ferencvaros
Pot 3 or 4 dependent on play-off results:
Lokomotiv Moscow
Marseille
Club Brugge
Red Bull Salzburg/Maccabi Tel Aviv
Olympiakos/Omonia
Krasnodar/PAOK
When does the football start?
The group stages get underway in the week of October 19, with six rounds of
group games running through to mid-December.
Matchday 1: October 20/21
Matchday 2: October 27/28
Matchday 3: November 3/4
Matchday 4: November 24/25
Matchday 5: December 1/2
Matchday 6: December 8/9
Whoever is lucky enough to go all the way will go head to head at the
Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul - where Liverpool beat AC Milan back in
2005 - on May 29.
top