A squadron of debutant teams or those who had been absent for a long time has given a new face to the UEFA Champions League this season (2020/2021).
The group of 32 teams for the draw to be held this Thursday will include at least three debutants in the group stage and another club that has not qualified since the mid-1990s.
The list of apprentices doesn't even include teams that suddenly made it to the elite of Europe. For example, Atalanta from Italy reached the finals in their first appearance last season. And Leipzig from Germany reached the semi-finals in just their second participation.
- [Live] Draw ceremony for the group stage of the Champions League 2020/2021
The eight groups of four teams each with the best teams in Europe will be formed at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon. It will be a closed-door ceremony, without club representatives or media, as a precaution against COVID-19 infection.
For this purpose, they were divided into pots (1, 2, 3, and 4) to order them according to their previous achievements. The last ones to secure a spot in this privileged stage were Midtjylland from Denmark and Krasnodar from Russia, after eliminating Slavia Prague from Czech Republic and PAOK Thessaloniki from Greece, respectively, for the first time in their history, and RB Salzburg from Austria, who put an end to Maccabi Tel Aviv's journey.
This is how the pots for the draw of the UEFA Champions League 2020/21 are:
Pot 1: Bayern Munich, Sevilla FC, Real Madrid, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Zenit, and Porto.
Pot 2: FC Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax, and Shakhtar.
Pot 3: Inter Milan, Lazio, Atalanta, RB Leipzig, Olympiacos, Dinamo Kiev, RB Salzburg, and Krasnodar.
Pot 4: Lokomotiv, Olympique Marseille, Club Brugge, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Rennes, Istanbul Başakşehir, Ferencváros, and Midtjylland.
The champions of Spain, England, Germany, Italy, France, Russia, and Portugal are placed as the top seeds along with Sevilla, who is in that pot for being the Europa League champion. In this way, the second pot is formed by powerful teams like FC Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Manchester United, City, Chelsea, and Dortmund, any of them in a position to win their group, just like Inter or Atalanta, who were relegated to the third group and are the most likely to be part of the group of death.
The new dreamers:
Rennes (France)
Istanbul Başakşehir (Turkey)
Ferencváros (Hungary)
Krasnodar (Russia)
Midtjylland (Denmark)
How does the draw work?
In pot 1, there is the reigning champion, the winner of the UEFA Europa League, and the six champions of the federations with the highest rankings who did not qualify through one of the titles in 2019/20. From pot 2 to pot 4, the rest of the participants are placed according to their club coefficient ranking.
No team can play against a club from their own federation. The exact procedure of the draw will be confirmed before the ceremony.
In the case of federations with two representatives, the clubs will be paired to divide their matches between Tuesday and Wednesday. In the case of federations with four representatives, two pairings will be made. These will be based on television audiences.
Possible groups of death:
Bayern Munich
- FC Barcelona, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Olympique Marseille
- Atlético de Madrid, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Olympique Marseille
- Manchester United, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Olympique Marseille
- Manchester City, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Olympique Marseille
- Chelsea, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Olympique Marseille
Juventus
- FC Barcelona, Leipzig, and Olympique Marseille
- Atlético de Madrid, Leipzig, and Olympique Marseille
- Manchester United, Leipzig, and Olympique Marseille
- Manchester City, Leipzig, and Olympique Marseille
- Chelsea, Leipzig, and Olympique Marseille
Real Madrid
- Manchester United, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Olympique Marseille
- Manchester City, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Olympique Marseille
- Chelsea, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Olympique Marseille
- Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Olympique Marseille
Paris SG
- FC Barcelona, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Borussia Monchengladbach
- Atlético de Madrid, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Borussia Monchengladbach
- Manchester United, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Borussia Monchengladbach
- Manchester City, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Borussia Monchengladbach
- Chelsea, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Borussia Monchengladbach
- Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Lokomotiv
Liverpool
- FC Barcelona, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Olympique Marseille
- Atlético de Madrid, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Olympique Marseille
- Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan or Lazio or Atalanta, and Olympique Marseille
Schedule to watch the draw of the UEFA Champions League groups live:
08:00, Los Angeles
10:00, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico
11:00, New York, Miami, Venezuela, and Bolivia
12:00, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay
16:00, England
17:00, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany
ESPN broadcasts for Ecuador and Latin America
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