Champions League pots confirmed as Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City and Aston Villa learn possible opponents

The pots for the 2024/25 Champions League group-stage draw have now been confirmed following the conclusion of this season’s qualification phase.

The time is almost upon us. On Thursday at 5pm UK time, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa, amongst others, will discover their opponents for the opening round of fixtures.

It will be a new-look Champions League draw this year, with the format seeing an increase from 32 to 36 teams.

As explained by UEFA, clubs will be seeded in four pots based on their individual club coefficient at the beginning of the season.

Each team will then be drawn against two opponents from each pot, one of which they will play at home and one away.

In the league phase, teams cannot face opponents from their own country and can be drawn against a maximum of two sides from the same country.

All 36 teams will be manually drawn using physical balls. For every team manually drawn, a designated automated software will randomly draw their opponents, who will be revealed on screen in the draw hall and on television.

The software will also decide which matches will be at home and which away. The draw will start with Pot 1, assigning opponents to all teams, one after the other, and will continue with the other pots in descending order until all teams have been assigned their opponents.

So who will be involved? Dinamo Zagreb, Lille, Crvena Zvezda and Slovan Bratislava became the final four teams to book their place in the next round after securing qualification on Wednesday night.

Here’s how the pots will look ahead of Thursday’s draw.

Pot One: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona.

Pot Two: Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan.

Pot Three: Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Red Bull Salzburg, Young Boys, Celtic, Dinamo Zagreb, Lille, Crvena Zvezda.

Pot Four: Monaco, Sparta Prague, Aston VIlla, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest, Slovan Bratislava.

Image credit: Getty

In other news, UEFA will recognise Cristiano Ronaldo for his “remarkable legacy in the world’s most prestigious competition” when the Champions League draw takes place on August 29.

The 39-year-old, a five-time Champions League winner, is set to be presented with an award by UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.