Fans, players and staff of the four Premier League clubs in the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League are waiting with bated breath to see who their teams will be drawn against in the group stage.
Defending European champions Manchester City will go into pot one for Thursday’s draw in Monaco, along with UEFA Europa League winners Sevilla, whom they faced this month in the UEFA Super Cup final, and the six domestic champions.
This year sees the long-awaited return of some familiar faces to the competition. The 2005/06 runners-up Arsenal will play in the tournament for the first time since 2016/17, the final season of a remarkable 18 years of consecutive Champions League qualification, a record bettered only by Real Madrid.
It’s been an even longer wait for Newcastle United, who make their first appearance in the group stage of the competition since the 2002/03 season.
Manchester United, who have lifted the Champions League on three occasions, also return to the competition, having spent last season in the Europa League.
Pots two to four are determined by the club coefficient rankings, and will see Arsenal and Man Utd together in pot two, with Newcastle in pot four.
Premier League sides cannot be drawn against each other.
UCL pots
Pot one: Man City, Sevilla, Barcelona, Napoli, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica, Feyenoord
Pot two: Real Madrid, Man Utd, Internazionale, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Porto, Arsenal
Pot three: Shakhtar Donetsk, Red Bull Salzburg, AC Milan, Braga, Lazio, Red Star Belgrade, Copenhagen, PSV
Pot four: Newcastle, Lens, Union Berlin, Real Sociedad, Galatasaray, Celtic, Antwerp, Young Boys
The performance of English sides in European competitions will be more important than ever this season, as the 2023/24 season could have five teams qualifying for the 2024/25 Champions League through their league positions.
An additional place will be allocated to two countries whose clubs collectively performed the best in UEFA competitions the season before.
This season will see the last of the traditional 32-team format with next season's competition expanding to 36 teams in a “Swiss league” structure.
Dates for UCL group stage matches
Matchday 1: 19/20 September 2023
Matchday 2: 3/4 October 2023
Matchday 3: 24/25 October 2023
Matchday 4: 7/8 November 2023
Matchday 5: 28/29 November 2023
Matchday 6: 12/13 December 2023
The final of this season's Champions League will take place on 1 June 2024 at Wembley Stadium.
PL clubs in Europa League and Europa Conference League
Premier League clubs are also well represented in the UEFA Europa League and Europa Conference League this season.
Liverpool will feel confident of getting to the latter stages of the Europa League, a competition they reached the final of in 2016.
Brighton & Hove Albion enter European competition for the first time in their history after finishing sixth in the Premier League, and will compete in the Europa League alongside West Ham United, who qualify after beating Fiorentina in the final of the Europa Conference League in June.
Aston Villa will hope to emulate the Hammers’ success in the UECL after finishing seventh in the Premier League. They will be guided by a European specialist in Unai Emery, who has lifted the Europa League trophy on four occasions.
The draws for those two competitions will take place on Friday 1 September.
