The UEFA Champions League 2019-2020 will kick-start on Thursday (August 29) with the draw for the group stage taking place. The defending champions Liverpool are placed in Pot 1 alongside Chelsea (UEFA Europa League winners), Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St. Petersburg who all are the respective champions of the leagues across Europe. The draw will be live-streamed on UEFA.com.
The draw will be held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
A total of 26 teams have been given direct entry to the group stage under the competition system introduced in 2018-19 are will be joined by the 6 winners of the play-offs.
The teams are split into four seeding pots of which Pot 1 consists of holders, the UEFA Europa League winners and the champions of the six highest-ranked nations. Pots 2 and 4 are determined by the club coefficient ranking.
Notably, no two teams from the same nation can play against each other in the Group stage of the UEFA Champions League. Furthermore, clubs from Ukraine and Russia cannot be drawn in the same group due to political tensions between the two nations. The matches, on their part, will be split into two match days - Tuesday and Wednesday.
The draw also establishes the groups for the UEFA Champions League path of the UEFA Youth League.
Dates for the UEFA Champions League group stage matches
Matchday 1: September 17 and 18
Matchday 2: October 1 and 2
Matchday 3: October 22 and 23
Matchday 4: November 5 and 6
Matchday 5: November 26 and 27
Matchday 6: December 10 and 11
As the draw is completed, the complete list of group stage fixtures will be announced.
When and what time will the draw take place?
The Champions League group stage draw will be held on Thursday (August 29) at 9:30 PM IST.
Which teams have qualified for the UEFA Champions League 2018-19?
Spain: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Valencia
England: Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur
Italy: Juventus, Napoli, Internazionale Milano, Atalanta
Germany: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, RB Leipzig
France: Paris St-Germain, Lyon, LOSC Lille
Russia: Zenit St. Petersburg, Lokomotiv Moskva
Portugal: Benfica
Ukraine: Shakhtar Donetsk
Belgium: Genk
Turkey: Galatasaray
Austria: Salzburg
Greece: Olympiacos
Croatia: GNK Dinamo
Serbia: Crvena Zvezda
Teams competing in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers and first-leg results
The 12 teams involved in the UCL group stage qualifiers have already played their first-leg matches while the second leg matches have been scheduled to take place on August 27 and August 28. Crvena Zvezda, Olympiacos and Dinamo Zagreb are through to the group stage.
The draw will be followed by the announcement of UEFA Men's Player of the Year which has Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil van Dijk in the 3-man shortlist.
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