The draw for this season’s group stage will be held on Thursday in Istanbul, where all 32 European teams, including the defending champion Real Madrid, will learn about their groupings and opponents. The elite group consists of the reigning Champions League winners Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Juventus, who are still suing Champions League organiser UEFA at the European Court of Justice to establish their own independent league.
Matches in the UCL group stage will begin on September 6 and end on November 2.
FORMAT
The 32 teams, representing 15 different nations, are divided into four-team groups for home-and-away round robin matches. Groups cannot contain teams from the same nation. Next year, the top two finishers in each group progress to the elimination round.
The Champions League and Europa League champions from the previous season, Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt, together with six other league champions from the top-ranked domestic competitions, are the top seeds.
The seeds for the remaining 24 teams are determined by UEFA rankings based on performance in Europe over the previous five seasons. Out of the 24, Liverpool is ranked first, while Maccabi Haifa is last.
PRIZE MONEY FOR THE SEASON
In the group stage, each side receives a base payment of 15.6 million euros ($15.5 million), with an additional 2.8 million euros ($2.78 million) for each victory and 930,000 euros ($924,000) for each tie. Each drew game results in an additional 930,000 euros ($924,000) being pooled and distributed among the winning teams. With each knockout round, the rewards rise.
Real Madrid, the team with the highest “coefficient,” receives 36.4 million euros ($36.1 million), while Maccabi Haifa, the team with the lowest “coefficient,” receives just 1.14 million euros ($1.13 million). Teams receive a portion of their domestic broadcast rights agreement as well.
The final winner will get around 125 million euros ($124 million) in UEFA prize money.
GROUP STAGE POTS
Pot 1: Real Madrid (Spain), Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany), Manchester City (England), AC Milan (Italy), Bayern Munich (Germany), Paris Saint-Germain (France), Porto (Portugal), Ajax (Netherlands).
Pot 2: Liverpool (England), Chelsea (England), Barcelona (Spain), Juventus (Italy), Atlético Madrid (Spain), Sevilla (Spain), Leipzig (Germany), Tottenham (England).
Pot 3:Â Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Salzburg (Austria), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Inter Milan (Italy), Napoli (Italy), Benfica (Portugal), Sporting Lisbon (Portugal), Bayer Leverkusen (Germany).
Pot 4:Â Rangers (Scotland), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Marseille (France), Copenhagen (Denmark), Club Brugge (Belgium), Celtic (Scotland), Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic), Maccabi Haifa (Israel).
Image Credit: Goal
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