The UEFA Champions League returns this season with teams playing each other home and away in the groups and two-legged ties from the Round of 16. They will be drawn into eight groups of four teams and each side will be split into four seeding pots. Every group will have one team from each pot.
Also this year, UEFA confirmed that clubs will be allowed to make up to five substitutions per match in the Champions League and the Europa League throughout 2020-21. This move is said to alleviate the burden on players caused by the condensed international match calendars of their respective leagues.
Seedings for all teams are determined by club coefficients. Borussia Dortmund will be in pot two, alongside FC Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Chelsea and Ajax.
Pot one contains 2019/20 Champions League winners Bayern Munich, 2019/20 Europa League winners Sevilla, as well as Real Madrid, Juventus, Liverpool, Paris St. Germain, Zenit Saint Petersburg and FC Porto.
Dynamo Kyiv, RB Leipzig, Inter Milan, Olympiakos, Lazio, Atalanta and two other teams to be determined soon.
Other teams who have already sealed qualification for the group stage include Borussia Mönchengladbach, Lokomotiv Moscow, Club Brugge, Olympique de Marseille, Istanbul Basaksehir, Rennes and Ferencvaros TC.
Geneva (AP) Ferencvros has in fact ended its 25-year wait to return to the Champions League group stage. They gave Hungary a rare place on European club soccer’s biggest stage. A 0-0 draw at home to Molde in the second leg of the qualifying playoffs took Ferencvros through on the away goals rule after a 3-3 draw in Norway last week.
Where can fans in India watch the UEFA Champions League draw?
Fans in India can watch all the LIVE action from the UEFA Champions League draw on SONY TEN 2 on October 1, 2020, from 9.30 PM IST.
As for the UEFA Europa League draw, it is scheduled for October 2, 2020, and will be aired LIVE on SONY TEN 2 channels at 4.30 PM IST onwards.
