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The pots for Thursday’s Champions League group stage draw have been finalised after Antwerp, FC Copenhagen and PSV Eindhoven secured the final three places in this season’s competition.
It will be the last time a group draw takes place, with the UCL revamped next season into one 36-team league.
Manchester City take their place in Pot 1 as titleholders, along with Sevilla, who won the UEFA Europa League. The rest of the top pot is made up of the champions of the top six leagues as well as Feyenoord; the Eredivisie winners are promoted from Pot 3 as Pep Guardiola’s team also won the Premier League.
Pots 2-4 are built based on UEFA’s five-year coefficient score, with Newcastle United in Pot 4 as this will be their first European campaign for 11 seasons. It means the Magpies could face a tough return to the Champions League in a group against, for instance, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and AC Milan.
The group stage draw will begin at 5 p.m. UK / midday ET on Thursday, with the first fixtures scheduled for Sept. 19 and 20. The schedule is expected to be announced by Saturday.
One team from each pot will be drawn into a group. Teams from the same national association cannot be placed into the same group.
This season the final will be held at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday, June 1.
POT 1
Manchester City
Sevilla
Barcelona
Napoli
Bayern Munich
Paris Saint-Germain
Benfica
Feyenoord
POT 2
Real Madrid
Manchester United
Internazionale
Borussia Dortmund
Atletico Madrid
RB Leipzig
FC Porto
Arsenal
POT 3
Shakhtar Donetsk
FC Salzburg
AC Milan
Braga
PSV Eindhoven
Lazio
Red Star Belgrade
FC Copenhagen
POT 4
Young Boys
Real Sociedad
Galatasaray
Celtic
Newcastle United
Union Berlin
Antwerp
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