THE top teams in Europe will as Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham get set for the Champions League draw.
All four of these English sides are seasoned in this competition and all of them have played in or won finals in the past five seasons.
Both Rangers and Celtic are back in the Champions League group stage draw for the first time in 12 years, following Gers' relegation to the bottom of the Scottish football pyramid.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst's team beat PSV Eindhoven in qualifying after a thrilling 1-0 win in Philips Stadion last night, clinching the tie 3-2 on aggregate.
Real Madrid held their nerve to beat six-time winners Liverpool in a tense final last season.
But the time has come for the biggest teams around Europe to compete for this prestigious trophy once again.
Find out all you need to know about the group stage draw…
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When is the Champions League group stage draw?
- The group stage draw for the iconic tournament is set to take place TODAY – Thursday, August 25.
- It is scheduled to get underway from 4:45pm UK time, which is 5:45pm local time.
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- Istanbul, Turkey will be the city where the draw is being hosted which is also where the final is expected to be played.
- The 2021 Champions League conclusion was also scheduled to played in Istanbul before the switch to Wembley.
Will the Champions League group stage draw be on TV and can I live stream it?
- The Champions League draw will be broadcasted LIVE on BT Sport 1.
- Subscription members of BT Sport can also stream all the action via the BT Sport app or the BT Sport website.
- UEFA will be streaming the entire action live from their official website too..
Can I stream the draw for FREE?
BT Sport YouTube are expected to be covering the draw for FREE to give all users access.
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What are the pots?
There are four pots for the Champions League group stage draw which are then allocated into groups of eight.
Pot 1: Real Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt, Manchester City, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto, Ajax
Pot 2: Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, RB Leipzig, Tottenham Hotspur
Pot 3: Borussia Dortmund, Red Bull Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter, Napoli, Sporting Lisbon, Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica
Pot 4: Club Brugge, Celtic, Marseille, Maccabi Haifa, Viktoria Plzen, Rangers, Dinamo Zagreb, Copenhagen
Remaining pot spaces to be completed after qualifying rounds
How does the draw work?
The draw features 32 teams: 26 teams given direct entry to the group stage and the six winners of the play-off ties.
The first pot is made up of the champions from the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, Primeira Liga as well as the Champions League and Europa League winners.
Real Madrid won the Champions League last season which is why the champions of the seventh-ranked league (Ajax) have earned a spot in Pot 1.
Pots 2, 3 and 4 are then determined by the UEFA club coefficient – something that is decided on how well the teams in each league do.
No team can play a side from their own association. Any other restrictions will be announced ahead of the draw.
- Kieran Davies
Familiar faces, unfamiliar surroundings
As the transfer window has served up some interesting moves this summer, we will be seeing some big names in kits we are not used to them donning.
Robert Lewandowski will be wearing the colours of Barcelona in this season’s competition, while Erling Haaland has swapped Dortmund for Man City.
Pep Guardiola will be hoping that the striker is the missing piece of the jigsaw which will see them win their first ever Champions League trophy.
- Nyle Smith
Semi-automated offside technology
This year's Champions League will see a camera based system judge offside calls in the group stages.
It was approved last month by FIFA for the World Cup and it will use multiple cameras to track players limbs from the moment when a key pass is made.
There has been a lot of controversy in Champions League history but this technology is being brought in to try and eradicate the errors.
- Nyle Smith
A pot of gold
There could be some tasty match-ups this year.
- Nyle Smith
Champions of the Champions League
Real Madrid lead the charts by some way when it comes to Champions League triumphs.
Below is a list of some of the winners:
- Real Madrid – 14
- AC Milan – 7
- Liverpool – 6
- Bayern Munich – 6
- Barcelona – 5
- Ajax – 4
- Manchester United and Inter Milan – 3
- Benfica, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and Porto – 2
Ready to start changing Gers
Rangers have turned up fashionably late to the party but they are here and are loving every single moment of it.
The Scottish giants pipped Ruud Van Nistelrooy's side to the final Champions League qualification spot having beaten PSV Eindhoven in Holland yesterday.
This meant that Rangers have finally made a return to top-tier European football for the first time in twelve years.
And they join bitter rivals Celtic in Pot 4, however, both could face hard opponents due to the pot that they are in.
Time to rewind the clocks
Real Madrid became the Kings of Europe for a 14th time in last season's competition.
Liverpool fans, look away now.
A rundown of the pots
There are four pots for the Champions League group stage draw which are then allocated into groups of eight.
Pot 1: Real Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt, Manchester City, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto, Ajax
Pot 2: Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, RB Leipzig, Tottenham Hotspur
Pot 3: Borussia Dortmund, Red Bull Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter, Napoli, Sporting Lisbon, Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica
Pot 4: Club Brugge, Celtic, Marseille, Maccabi Haifa, Viktoria Plzen, Rangers, Dinamo Zagreb, Copenhagen
Welcome to the Champions League group stage draw
Good morning, good afternoon or good evening wherever you are tuned in from.
One thing that we all have in common is the anticipation of an exciting group stage draw.
Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs could all be in for a tough group if luck is not on their side.
But equally, the four English sides will put themselves favourites to qualify no matter who stands in front of them as they have all either won this competition or been in the final.
Keep refreshing the page folks as we will have all the latest gossip and news ahead of what is set to be a scintillating draw.
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