The UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League group draws and the announcement of Men’s and Women’s Footballer of the Year and Coach of the Year will be held on Thursday and Friday in Istanbul.
The draws and award ceremony will be held at Halic Congress Center.
Nominated for Men’s Player of the Year are Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid), and Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City), while Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid), Josep Guardiola (Manchester City), and Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool) are competing for Men’s Coach of the Year.
Sonia Bompastor (Lyon), Martina Voss Tecklenburg (Germany), Sarina Wiegman (England) are nominees for the Women’s Coach of the Year.
Beth Mead (Arsenal, England), Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg, Germany), and Alexia Putellas (Barcelona, Spain) are all nominated for the Women’s Player of the Year.
Istanbul will also host the season finale of European football, as the 2022-2023 UEFA Champions League Final is set to be held in Istanbul on June 10, 2023.
The 2022/23 UEFA Champions League group stage draw will feature 26 automatic qualifiers and six play-off round winners whose identity will be confirmed on 23 and 24 August.
The line-up is subject to final confirmation by UEFA.
Pot 1
Real Madrid (ESP, Champions League holders)
Eintracht Frankfurt (GER, Europa League holders)
Manchester City (ENG)
AC Milan (ITA)
Bayern München (GER)
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Porto (POR)
Ajax (NED)
Other pots
Liverpool (ENG)
Chelsea (ENG)
Barcelona (ESP)
Juventus (ITA)
Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
Sevilla (ESP)
RB Leipzig (GER)
Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
Borussia Dortmund (GER)
Salzburg (AUT)
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
Inter (ITA)
Napoli (ITA)
Sporting CP (POR)
Bayer Leverkusen (GER)
Marseille (FRA)
Club Brugge (BEL)
Celtic (SCO)
How the Champions League group stage draw works
- The draw features 32 teams: 26 teams given direct entry to the group stage and the six winners of the play-off ties.
- The teams will be split into four seeding pots. Pot 1 will consist of the holders, the UEFA Europa League winners and the champions of the six highest-ranked nations who did not qualify via one of the 2021/22 titles; Pots 2 to 4 will be determined by the club coefficient rankings.
- In the case of associations with two representatives, clubs will be paired in order to split their matches between Tuesdays and Wednesdays. In the case of associations with four representatives, two pairings will be made. These pairings are to be based on TV audiences.
- No team can play a side from their own association. Any other restrictions will be announced ahead of the draw.
What happens next?
Fixtures will be confirmed after the draw for a group stage which will be contracted over an eight-week period this autumn because of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The top two teams in each group advance to the round of 16.
The third-placed sides in each group transfer to the UEFA Europa League knockout stage, where they will face the UEFA Europa League group runners-up for places in the last 16.
What are the Champions League group stage dates?
Matchday 1: 6/7 September
Matchday 2: 13/14 September
Matchday 3: 4/5 October
Matchday 4: 11/12 October
Matchday 5: 25/26 October
Matchday 6: 1/2 November
Round of 16 draw: 7 November
Sources: AA, UEFA
