UEFA Champions League
Participants all confirmed, draw on Thursday afternoon
The football world will cast its eyes towards Istanbul on Thursday (18:00 CET), when the draw for the eight groups of the 30th UEFA Champions League campaign takes place. Borussia Dortmund are in the second of the four pots. All of their possible opponents in the group phase were confirmed tonight.
Shakhtar Donetsk became the 32nd and final club to qualify for Europe's elite club competition on Wednesday evening. That means the pots are now confirmed. Pot 1 contains the reigning champions, the 2020/21 UEFA Europa League winners and the champions of UEFA's six highest-ranked nations. Starting from pot 2, the club coefficient of the qualified clubs is all that counts. Borussia Dortmund are in pot 2 with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester United, Paris St. Germain, Liverpool and Sevilla – meaning they cannot face any of those sides. They will be drawn against an opponent from pots 1, 3 and 4 respectively.
One possible group draw would be Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax and AC Milan. But it is equally possible for the Black & Yellows to be in a group with Lille, Zenit St. Petersburg and Malmö.
The pots at a glance
Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
Chelsea | Real Madrid |
Villarreal | Barcelona |
Atlético Madrid | Juventus |
Manchester City | Manchester United |
Bayern Munich | Paris St. Germain |
Inter Milan | Liverpool |
Lille | Sevilla |
Sporting Lisbon | Borussia Dortmund |
Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
Porto | Besiktas |
Ajax | Dynamo Kyiv |
Shakhtar Donetsk | Club Bruges |
Rasenballsport Leipzig | Young Boys |
Salzburg | Sheriff Tiraspol |
Benfica | AC Milan |
Atalanta | Malmö |
Zenit St. Petersburg | VfL Wolfsburg |
The group stages will begin on 14 September and will end on 8 December after each club has played six matches. The top two teams will go through to the Round of 16, while the third-placed clubs will continue in the UEFA Europa League and those in fourth will be eliminated. (br)