After a summer full of exciting football action and a grand opening to the 2022-23 season, the focus now shifts to this season's UEFA Champions League.
The biggest clubs across the top European leagues are set to compete for the top continental prize and they'll start their journey with the group stage which is set to begin on September 6, 2022.
Defending champions Real Madrid and other European heavyweights Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool will all looking forward to the group stage draw and hope for a smooth start to their 2022-23 European journey.
GOAL has everything you need to know about Champions League group stage draw for the 2022-23 season below.
When is the Champions League 22-23 group stage draw?
Date | August 25, 2022 |
Time | 5pm BST / 12pm ET |
Venue | Halic Congress Center, Istanbul |
The Champions League 2022-23 group stage draw will take place on Thursday, August 25, 2022 .
The group stage draw will be held in Istanbul, Turkey at the Halic Congress Center and the event will begin at 5pm BST (12pm ET).
Before the draw, UEFA will announce and present its awards to the best performers from the 2021-22 football season.
GettyWhich teams are involved in the Champions League 22-23 group stage?
The Champions League 2022-23 group stage will feature a total of 32 football teams. 26 clubs are automatic qualifiers - they are given direct entry into the draw. Six more clubs will join them following wins in play-off rounds.
Qualified teams are divided into four pots: Pot 1 contains the title holders, the Europa League winners and the champions of the top six national leagues based on UEFA country coefficients. The remaining three pots are populated according to a team's UEFA club coefficient.
The final members of Pot 3 and Pot 4 will be decided following the play-off fixtures, the second legs of which will be wrapped up by August 24, 2022 before the draw takes place. It must also be noted that two teams from the same football association cannot be drawn into the same group in the draw.
Champions League 2022-23 group stage draw seeding pots
The table below lists all the confirmed teams set to take part in the Champions League 2022-23 group stage.
Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
Real Madrid | Liverpool | Borussia Dortmund | Club Brugge |
Eintracht Frankfurt | Chelsea | Salzburg | Celtic |
Manchester City | Barcelona | Shakhtar Donetsk | Maccabi Haifa |
AC Milan | Juventus | Inter | Viktoria Plzen |
Bayern München | Atletico de Madrid | Napoli | Marseille |
Paris Saint-Germain | Sevilla | Sporting CP | Rangers |
Porto | RB Leipzig | Bayer Leverkusen | Dinamo Zagreb |
Ajax | Tottenham Hotspur | Benfica | Copenhagen |
When does the Champions League 22-23 group stage start?
The Champions League 2022-23 group stage begins with matches on Tuesday September 6 and Wednesday September 7.
There will be a total of six matchdays in the group stage, with the last group matchdays falling on November 1 and November 2.
How can I watch the Champions League group stage draw?
The Champions League 2022-23 group stage draw can be streamed live on the UEFA official website.
Follow GOAL to stay on top of all news and the latest updates on the UEFA Champions League 2022-23.