Champions League draw LIVE: Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Tottenham learn group stage opponents
The Champions League draw revealed the 2022/23 fixtures and groups including Erling Haaland returning to Borussia Dortmund with Man City
Liverpool will face Rangers in the Champions League group stages, as the draw also set up an immediate reunion between Manchester City striker Erling Haaland and his former side Borussia Dortmund.
Liverpool and Rangers were also drawn with Ajax and Napoli in Group A, while Manchester City will face Sevilla and Copenhagen as well as the Bundesliga side.
Chelsea will play Italian champions AC Milan, FC Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb while Tottenham Hotspur also received a favourable draw, with Antonio Conte’s side being grouped with Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt, Sporting Lisbon and Marseille.
Celtic will play the holders Real Madrid along with RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk while the group of death sees Barcelona take on Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, as Robert Lewandowski also faces a trip back to his former side.
Follow live updates from the Champions League draw, below:
What are the pots?
Here’s the full list of the four pots. Remember, one team from each pot makes up a group.
Teams from the same country can’t be drawn in the same group, so the four English teams will avoid each other. There could be a Battle of Britain though, with Celtic and Rangers eligible to be drawn in the same group as one of Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea or Spurs.
Pot 1: Real Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt, Man City, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto, Ajax
Pot 2: Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, RB Leipzig, Tottenham
Pot 3: Borussia Dortmund, Red Bull Salzburg, Shaktar Donetsk, Inter Milan, Napoli, Benfica, Sporting Lisbon, Bayer Leverkusen
Pot 4: Rangers, Dinamo Zagreb, Marseille, Copenhagen, Club Brugge, Celtic, Viktoria Plzen, Maccabi Haifa
Champions League group stage draw
We’ve hit 5pm (BST) so it’s time for the Champions League group stage draw. Well, I say that - don’t get too excited just yet, there will be an unbelievable amount of filler before we get to the actual draw.
It will likely be closer to 6pm before any of the balls actually get drawn.
UEFA Awards winners to be announced
The Champions League draw today will also see the winners of the UEFA Awards announced. UEFA’s men’s and women’s player of the year will be handed out - as well as men’s and women’s coach of the year.
Kevin De Bruyne, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Sarina Wiegman and Beth Mead are among the names in the running for individual awards.
How does the Champions League group stage draw work?
Clubs have been split into four pots, with one team from each making up a group.
Pot 1 consists of holders Real Madrid, the other champions of Europe’s biggest leagues and Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt. The other pots are based on how well teams have done in Europe over the past five seasons.
Rangers hold nerve to beat PSV and reach Champions League group stage
Antonio Colak scored the winner as Rangers beat PSV Eindhoven 1-0 to reach the Champions League for the first time in 12 years.
After a 2-2 draw against the Dutch side in the first leg of the play-off at Ibrox last week, another absorbing encounter was played out in the Philips Stadium.
In a game that swung to and fro at times, Colak tapped into the empty net on the hour mark for his fifth goal in six matches before the Light Blues held out for a 3-2 aggregate win.
The Croatia striker had scored twice to help loan side Malmo knock Rangers out of the Champions League qualifiers last season but he repaid his current employers and then some following his move from PAOK as his side made it to the promised land for the first time since 2010.
Rangers and Celtic will be in today’s Champions League draw for the first time since 2007/08.
Rangers hold nerve to beat PSV and reach Champions League group stage
Rangers and Celtic will be in Thursday’s Champions League draw for the first time since 2007/08
Stars gathering in Istanbul
As per usual at these sort of events, the great, good and forgettable of world football are gathering in Istanbul for the draw.
The likes of ex-goalkeepers Oliver Kahn (now Bayern Munich CEO) and Edwin van der Sar, as well as Turkey coach Stefan Kuntz have all been pictured arriving.
Champions League trophy in place
The Champions League trophy is in place in Istanbul. Who will follow Real Madrid and lift it come next May?
We’re only about 40 minutes away from the group stage draw starting now.
Champions League draw comes as Super League court case hangs over European game
As officials of Europe’s great clubs gather in Istanbul for the Champions League draw, it will be the first time many have been together in the same room since before Covid, writes Miguel Delaney.
There will be some tension and sizing up. The biggest issues by far will be football politics, rather than any old-fashioned trepidation about who they might face in the draw. That is because of a discussion that is now beyond old-fashioned, which is that the competition’s group stage is boring and predictable. It is such a fait accompli it is set to be finished altogether, since this is the penultimate season of the old round-robin format. Enjoy the pompous pageantry of the draw while you can.
The controversial “Swiss system” changes won’t actually solve much, though. You only have to glance across the continent to see how the group stage just follows a growing trend. Predictability is the way of European football now.
Read Miguel’s full piece here:
Champions League draw comes as Super League court case hangs over European game
European football is more imbalanced and fractured than ever as the giants of the game meet in Istanbul for the group stage draw
What time is the Champions League draw today?
Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham await their fate in today’s Champions League group stage draw.
European football eagerly awaits the final touches to the calendar with the prestigious event in Istanbul, which will host this year’s final.
Liverpool were beaten in last season’s final by a Real Madrid side inspired by Karim Benzema, while Brazilian Vinicius Jr struck the winner in Paris. But Jurgen Klopp will be bullish about his side’s chances this year having seen their character to rebound after tough final defeats in the past. Tottenham return to the top table of European football, with Antonio Conte eager to prove his worth in a competition he has struggled with in the past.
Elsewhere, the Champions League draw will also feature both Rangers and Celtic for the first time since 2007 after Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side held their nerve to defeat PSV in the final play-off round last night.
Here’s all you need to know about the draw, including what teams will play this season and which pots they have been designated in.
What time is the Champions League draw today?
What time is the Champions League draw today? Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham poised to discover 2022/23 opponents
What are the Champions League group stage dates?
Once we know the groups, the full fixture schedule will be released shortly after.
Certain teams from the same country are paired to ensure they don’t play on the same day. From England, Man City and Liverpool will always play on separate days, as will Chelsea and Spurs, although we don’t yet know whether it will be Man City and Chelsea or Man City and Spurs who do play each of their group matches on the same evening. Celtic and Rangers will also always be playing on opposite days.
With the Qatar World Cup taking place in mid-season this year, it’s a new-look Champions League schedule, with the entire group stage crammed in between September and November. Here’s the full list of matchday dates.
Matchday 1: 6/7 September Matchday 2: 13/14 September Matchday 3: 4/5 October Matchday 4: 11/12 October Matchday 5: 25/26 October Matchday 6: 1/2 November Round of 16 draw: 7 November
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