32 teams will learn their European fate in
Thursday's group stage draw. Getty
The group stage draw of this season's
Champions League takes place at Monaco's
Grimaldi Forum later today. Here's all you need
to know before it all gets started.
Where to watch live
The draw and its inevitably drawn out ceremony
will be shown live on Sky Sports News HQ and BT
Sport Europe. Uefa's official website will also
have live coverage. The draw is scheduled to
start 4:45pm UK
Preview
Following the conclusion of this week's playoff
rounds, we now know which 32 teams will be
eagerly waiting to learn their European fate in
Thursday's Champions League group stage draw.
Having eased past Club Brugge in their play-off,
Manchester United have joined Chelsea,
Manchester City and Arsenal as the Premier
League's representatives.
Louis van Gaal led his side back into the
competition after last year's absence where the
rest of the English representation fell woefully
short of the required standard. For the first time
in history, they will be joined by five teams from
Spain, with Sevilla and Valencia joining Barcelona,
Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid courtesy of their
respective Europa League and playoff successes.
This year's revised format means the champions
from each of Europe's top eight leagues will be
kept away from each other until the knock out
stages.
Pots and coefficients
For the first time in the competition's history, Pot
1 will consist of the competition's current holders
and the champions of the top seven associations:
Barcelona (Spain), Chelsea (England), Bayern
Munich (Germany), Juventus (Italy), Porto
(Portugal), Paris Saint-Germain (France) and
Zenit St Petersburg (Russia). As Barcelona enter
as both European and Spanish champions, the
extra spot in Pot 1 goes to Dutch champions PSV
Eindhoven.
As ever, teams from the same country cannot
play each other in the group stages. The rest of
the pots have been determined by the club's Uefa
coefficient, which is calculated by the sum of all
points won in the previous five years, plus 20% of
their association's coefficient over the same
period.
Pot 1 : Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich,
Juventus, Benfica, Paris, Zenit, PSV Eindhoven
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Pot 2 : Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Porto,
Arsenal, Manchester United, Valencia, Bayer
Leverkusen, Manchester City
Pot 3 : Shakhtar Donetsk, Sevilla, Lyon, Dynamo
Kyiv, Olympiacos, CSKA Moscow, Galatasaray,
Roma
Pot 4 : BATE Borisov, Borussia Mönchengladbach,
Wolfsburg, Dinamo Zagreb, Maccabi Tel-Aviv,
Gent
Dates
After the draw, you will only have to wait a few
more weeks before the Champions League is
dominating your mid-week again. Group fixtures
will take place on:
Match day one: 15/16 September
Match day two: 29/30 September
Match day three: 20/21 October
Match day four: 3/4 November
Match day five: 24/25 November
Match day six: 8/9 December



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