For the last time
On Thursday (6:00 p.m.) there will be a draw again. The European Football Union UEFA celebrates its annual gala for the new Champions League season in Monaco – the German starters FC Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and, for the first time, 1. FC Union Berlin find out who it is against in the group phase of the “ royal class” goes. And for the last time: from the 2024/25 season everything will be different in the European Cup.
Which opponents can the German clubs meet?
As usual, the 32 participants will be divided into four pots, each with eight teams. One group participant will be drawn from each pot. Pot 1 contains the Champions League title holder, the Europa League winner and the champions of the top leagues, so Bayern cannot meet heavyweights like Man City, Barça or PSG – but BVB, RB or Union can.
The other pots are based on the club coefficients together, which result from the game points collected in the last five years (a win gives two points and a draw one point) in the European Cup as well as bonus points for winning a title in the European competitions. However, if the club coefficient over the past five years is less than 20 per cent of the association coefficient over the same period, the latter is used.
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Dortmund and Leipzig are sorted into pot 2, group games against Real Madrid, Man United or Inter Milan are therefore not possible for the duo, but FC Bayern are threatened by these top opponents. Champions League newcomer Union is likely to face the supposedly heaviest group in pot 4 – for example with Man City, Real and AC Milan. The Bundesliga teams cannot meet in the group phase.
The Champions League pots at a glance
Raffle 1
Manchester City (Champions League winners and Premier League champions)
Sevilla FC (Europa League winners)
FC Barcelona (LaLiga champions)
FC Bayern Munich (Bundesliga champions)
SSC Napoli (Serie A Champions)
Paris Saint-Germain (Ligue 1 champions)
Benfica Lisbon (Liga Portugal champions)
Feyenoord Rotterdam (Eredivisie champions)
Raffle 2
Real Madrid (121,000)
Manchester United (104,000)
Inter Milan (96,000)
Borussia Dortmund (86,000)
Atlético Madrid (85,000)
RB Leipzig (84,000)
FC Porto (81,000)
Arsenal FC (76,000)
Raffle 3
Shakhtar Donetsk (63,000)
Red Bull Salzburg (59,000)
AC Milan (50,000)
SC Braga (44,000)
PSV Eindhoven (43,000)
Lazio Rome (42,000)
Red Star Belgrade (42,000)
FC Copenhagen (40,500)
Raffle 4
BSC Young Boys (34,500)
Real Sociedad San Sebastian (33,000)
Galatasaray (31,500)
Glasgow Celtic (31,000)
Newcastle United (21,914)
1. FC Union Berlin (17,000)
Royal Antwerp FC (17,000)
RC Lens (12,232)
When is the game and where can the games be seen?
The big goal for all clubs is the final on June 1st in London. In the group phase, there will be six matchdays until August 12th/13th. December played, it starts on 19./20. September. The two best teams in each group qualify for the round of 16, while those third in the group continue to play in the Europa League. The streaming services “DAZN” and “Amazon Prime Video” continue to be the rights holders for the transmissions. “Amazon” shows the top game on Tuesday for each game day. Only the final can be seen live on free-to-air television on “ZDF”, which shows summaries of all games late on Wednesday evening.
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Where is the game played?
Union will not play the home games in the “premier class” in the stadium An der Alten Försterei, but will do so in the Olympic Stadium. The venue of city rivals Hertha BSC offers space for around three times as many spectators. Those responsible for the “Iron” emphasized that they want to give as many Unioners as possible the opportunity to experience the first Champions League games live.
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Because of the Russian war of aggression in the Ukraine, the Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk also play their home games at Hamburger SV’s Volksparkstadion. “We are sure that the matches in the Volksparkstadion will be played at the highest level and will gather in the stands both local football fans and thousands of Ukrainians who are currently temporarily living in Germany and other European countries,” said Managing Director Dmytro Kyrylenko. Possible opponents are all four Bundesliga clubs, as Donetsk is sorted into pot three.
What’s next for the Champions League?
From 2024/25, the Champions League format with preliminary round groups will be history. 36 clubs then play in a league system with eight games against eight different opponents for a place in the round of 16. The top eight qualify directly for the knockout round, the other 16 teams up to 24th place play in playoffs to qualify for the round of 16. A total of 64 additional games can be seen. Two of the four additional starting places go to the two most successful national associations in the previous season in the European Cup – accordingly, the Bundesliga teams are already playing for the next season this season. UEFA is particularly concerned with the money: the large number of additional games will increase revenue significantly, reportedly from 3.6 billion to 5 billion euros in the entire European Cup.
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