The pots for Thursday’s UEFA Champions League draw have been finalised after the play-off round was completed on Wednesday.
It is the first time that a draw will take place in the new format, with all 36 teams represented in one league table.
The draw will begin at 5pm (UK time) or 12pm (Eastern time), with the first matches taking place from September 17 to 19. The league phase will extend into January, with all 18 matches of the final matchday being played simultaneously.
Instead of dividing the teams into groups, the draw will see eight matches played for each club. There will be two games, one home and one away, against teams from each of the four pots.
With teams now playing against clubs from their own pot, being in Pot 1 no longer provides an advantage. In previous seasons, being in Pot 1 meant avoiding games against the strongest clubs in the tournament.
Pot 1 used to contain the defending Champions League and Europa League champions and the champions of the top six domestic leagues. Pots 2 to 4 were then sorted by strength based on the UEFA club coefficient, which ranks clubs according to their performance in Europe over the last five seasons. Now only the defending Champions League champions are automatically in Pot 1, with all other positions determined by the UEFA club coefficient.
While the clubs will find out their opponents and venues on Thursday, the order of the matches will not be published by UEFA until Saturday.
This season the final will take place on Saturday, May 31st, at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
POT 1:
real Madrid
Manchester City
Bayern Munich
Paris Saint Germain
Liverpool
International
Borussia Dortmund
RB Leipzig
Barcelona
POT 2
Bayer Leverkusen
Atletico Madrid
Atalanta
Juventus
Benfica
arsenal
FC Bruges
Shakhtar Donetsk
AC Milan
POT 3
Feyenoord
Sporty CP
FC Schalke 04
Dinamo Zagreb
FC Salzburg
Lille
Red Star Belgrade
Young boys
Celtic
POT 4
Slovan Bratislava
AS Monaco
Sparta Prague
Aston Villa
Bologna,
The old town of Girona
FC Augsburg
Storm Graz
Brest
