With the fate of the competing teams set to be decided on Thursday, the UEFA have revealed the pots that hold the teams for the 2018/19 edition.
And we can safely say that for some teams the group stage draws might not be a pleasant sight.
Here’s how the pot looks like:
Pot 1:
The first pot consists of the previous year’s Champions League and Europa League winners along with domestic winners from England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France and Russia.
- Real Madrid
- Atletico Madrid
- Barcelona
- Bayern Munchen
- Manchester City
- Juventus
- Paris Saint-Germain
- Lokomotiv Moscow
Pot 2 :
The second pot consists of next eight best teams in terms of Uefa coefficient. Seven teams have already been decided with only one place left.
- Borussia Dortmund
- Porto
- Manchester United
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- Napoli
- Tottenham
- Roma
Pot 3:
- Schalke
- Lyon
- Monaco
- Ajax
- CSKA Moscow
Pot 4:
- Club Brugge (29.500)
- Galatasaray (29.500)
- Young Boys (20.500)
- Inter Milan (16.000)
- Hoffenheim (14.285)
- AEK Athens (10.000)
To be confirmed:
Liverpool’s place is yet to be decided despite them playing in last season’s finals. This is because UEFA uses the positions of the last five years and the Anfield outfit did not play in two Champions League during that period.
Benfica has higher points than Liverpool and if they manage to win their playoff then Liverpool will be drawn in Pot 3 meaning they have chances of playing much tougher opponents.
- Liverpool (62.000)
- Valencia (36.000)
- Viktoria Plzen (33.000)
- Red Star Belgrade (10.750) or Red Bull Salzburg (55.500)
- BATE Borisov (20.500) or PSV Eindhoven (36.000)
- Benfica (80.000) or PAOK (29.500)
The Champions League draw will take place in Monaco on Thursday 30 August at 5 pm BST.
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