Today is the draw for the Champions League group stage.

France: After determining the remaining six teams from the play-off round, the European Football Federation (UEFA) will draw the group stage for the 32 teams participating in the Champions League in Monaco today.

* Champions League group stage draw: 11 PM today, August 31st.

Six teams advanced through the play-offs to secure the final spots in the group stage: PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Antwerp (Belgium), Copenhagen (Denmark), Braga (Portugal), Galatasaray (Turkey), and Young Boys (Switzerland).

According to UEFA regulations, the champions of the six top national leagues in the "national coefficient" – compiled from the last five seasons – will be in the top seed group, along with the Champions League and Europa League winners.

Haaland celebrates winning the Champions League trophy after the final at the Ataturk Stadium on June 10th. Photo: Lapresse — Haaland celebrates winning the Champions League trophy after the final at the Ataturk Stadium on June 10th. Photo: *Lapresse*

Group one for the draw of next season's Champions League group stage would have included Man City (Premier League and Champions League champions), Sevilla (Europa League), Barca (La Liga), Bayern Munich (Bundesliga), PSG (Ligue 1), Napoli (Serie A), and Benfica (Portuguese league). However, since Man City won both the Premier League and the Champions League, the remaining spot went to the Dutch champions, Feyenoord.

Meanwhile, the remaining clubs will be grouped based on their "club coefficient," with each team's results in the last five European seasons taken into account. As a rule, clubs from the same national league will not be placed in the same group.

Group 1: Man City, Barca, Sevilla, Bayern, PSG, Napoli, Benfica, Feyenoord

Group 2: Real Madrid, Man Utd, Inter Milan, Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Porto, Arsenal

Group 3: Shakhtar Donetsk, Salzburg, AC Milan, Braga, Lazio, Red Star Belgrade, Copenhagen, PSV

Group 4: Real Sociedad, Galatasaray, Celtic, Newcastle, Union Berlin, Lens, Young Boys, Antwerp

This grouping method could create a "group of death" with Newcastle, Real Sociedad, and Galatasaray from Group 4, AC Milan and Lazio from Group 3, and two representatives from the remaining two seeded groups. In that scenario, Man City and Inter Milan could meet again in the group stage, after their encounter in the 2022-2023 final.

The Champions League group stage will run from September 19th to December 13th. The draw for the round of 16 will take place on December 18th, with the first leg matches scheduled for February 2024, on the 13th, 14th, 20th, and 21st, and the second leg three weeks later.

UEFA then proceeded with the draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals. The quarter-finals will be played with the first leg on April 9th and 10th, and the second leg a week later. The semi-finals will be played with the first leg on April 30th and May 1st, and the second leg a week later.

The final match took place at Wembley Stadium in London, England on June 1st.

From the 2024-2025 season, the number of teams participating in the Champions League will increase to 36, instead of 32 as in the current format, competing according to the "Swiss model" like chess and some esports . The 36 participating teams will be seeded based on their past performance.

According to this model, in the first round, the first-place team plays against the 36th-place team, and the second-place team plays against the 35th-place team. In the second round, the teams that won the first round will play each other, the teams that drew will play each other, and the teams that lost will play each other. The higher-scoring teams will increasingly clash, creating more major battles.

After 10 rounds, the top eight teams will advance directly to the Round of 16. The next 16 teams will play in a play-off to select the remaining eight for the Round of 16. Teams ranked 17th to 24th will drop down to play in the Europa League, while the bottom 12 teams will be eliminated.

Hong Duy

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