Napoli in the first pot, Inter in the second, Milan and Lazio in the third. Tonight’s matches will complete the whole picture.
The anticipation is growing for the Champions League group stage draw, scheduled for tomorrow at 6:00 PM (CET).
Napoli, Lazio, Inter, and Milan are waiting to learn their opponents in Europe’s premier football competition.
Tonight, the picture will be completed by the teams involved in the play-offs, with the matches AEK Athens-Antwerp (first leg 0-1), Copenhagen-Rakow (first leg 1-0), and Rangers Glasgow-PSV (first leg 2-2).
Champions League Draw, the Regulations
The thirty-two teams eligible for the group stage will be divided into four pots. The first pot consists of the tournament champions (Man City), the Europa League winner (Sevilla), and six national champions.
The second and fourth pots will be determined by the club rankings. Matches between teams from the same league are not allowed, so there won’t be any matchups between Italian teams at this stage, for example.
At the end of the group stage, the top two teams from each group advance directly to the round of 16. The third-placed teams will move on to the Europa League play-offs.
Champions League Draw, the Four Pots
FIRST POT: Benfica, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Feyenoord, Manchester City, Napoli, PSG, Sevilla
SECOND POT: Atletico Madrid, Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Inter, Leipzig, Manchester United, Porto, Real Madrid
THIRD POT: Lazio, Milan, Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting Braga, Red Star Belgrade
FOURTH POT: Galatasaray, Lens, Newcastle, Real Sociedad, Union Berlin
YET TO BE DETERMINED: Celtic Glasgow (3 or 4) plus the 3 teams coming from the play-offs.
Champions League Group Stage Dates
Matchday 1: September 19/20, 2023
Matchday 2: October 3/4, 2023
Matchday 3: October 24/25, 2023
Matchday 4: November 7/8, 2023
Matchday 5: November 28/29, 2023
Matchday 6: December 12/13, 2023
