UEFA Champions League group stage draw
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Article summary
The draw comprised 32 clubs, 26 of whom were direct entrants while six qualified via the play-offs.
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When and where is the draw?
The 2018/19 UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony started at 18:00CET on Thursday 30 August. It took place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco and was streamed live on UEFA.com.
How does the draw work?
• The 26 teams given direct entry to the group stage under the new competition system were joined by the six winners of the play-off ties.
• The teams were split into four seeding pots. Pot 1 consisted of the holders, the UEFA Europa League winners and the champions of the six highest-ranked nations. Pots 2 to 4 were determined by the club coefficient rankings.
• No team can play a club from their own association and, based on decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee, clubs from Russia and Ukraine could not be drawn in the same group.
• In the case of associations with two or more representatives, clubs were paired in order to split their matches between Tuesday and Wednesday, namely:
Real Madrid & Barcelona
Atlético Madrid & Valencia
Bayern & Dortmund
Man. City & Tottenham
Juventus & Internazionale Milano
Paris & Lyon
Lokomotiv Moskva & CSKA Moskva
Porto & Benfica
Man. United & Liverpool
Napoli & Roma
Schalke & Hoffenheim
Ajax & PSV Eindhoven
If a paired club was drawn, for example, in groups A, B, C or D, the other paired club – once drawn – was automatically assigned to one of groups E, F, G or H.
• The draw also established the groups for the UEFA Champions League path of the UEFA Youth League.
Who was involved in the draw?
ESP: Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia
GER: Bayern München, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke, Hoffenheim
ENG: Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool
ITA: Juventus, Napoli, Roma, Internazionale Milano
FRA: Paris Saint-Germain, Lyon, Monaco
RUS: Lokomotiv Moskva, CSKA Moskva
POR: Porto, Benfica
UKR: Shakhtar Donetsk
BEL: Club Brugge
TUR: Galatasaray
CZE: Viktoria Plzeň
SUI: Young Boys
NED: Ajax, PSV Eindhoven
GRE: AEK Athens
SRB: Crvena zvezda
Who was in which pot?
Pot 1
Real Madrid (holders)
Atlético Madrid (UEFA Europa League winners)
Barcelona
Bayern München
Manchester City
Juventus
Paris Saint-Germain
Lokomotiv Moskva
Pot 2
Borussia Dortmund 89.000
Porto 86.000
Manchester United 82.000
Shakhtar Donetsk 81.000
Benfica 80.000
Napoli 78.000
Tottenham Hotspur 67.000
Roma 64.000
Pot 3
Liverpool 62.000
Schalke 62.000
Lyon 59.500
Monaco 57.000
Ajax 53.500
CSKA Moskva 45.000
PSV Eindhoven 36.000
Valencia 36.000
Pot 4
Viktoria Plzeň 33.000
Club Brugge 29.500
Galatasaray 29.500
Young Boys 20.500
Internazionale Milano 16.000
Hoffenheim 14.285
Crvena zvezda 10.750
AEK Athens 10.000
Clubs' coefficients are determined either by the sum of all points won in the previous five years or by the association coefficient over the same period – whichever is higher (under a new system introduced for 2018/19 onwards). Where clubs have identical five-year coefficients, rankings are determined by coefficients in the most recent of the seasons on which the rankings are based, i.e. 2017/18.
UEFA awards
The following award winners were also due to be announced during the draw ceremony:
- UEFA Men's Player of the Year
- UEFA Women's Player of the Year
- Goalkeeper of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League season
- Defender of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League season
- Midfielder of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League season
- Forward of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League season
Season calendar
18/19 September: Group stage, matchday one
2/3 October: Group stage, matchday two
23/24 October: Group stage, matchday three
6/7 November: Group stage, matchday four
27/28 November: Group stage, matchday five
11/12 December: Group stage, matchday six
17 December: Round of 16 draw
12/13/19/20 February: Round of 16, first leg
5/6/12/13 March: Round of 16, second leg
15 March: Quarter-final & semi-final draw
9/10 April: Quarter-finals, first leg
16/17 April: Quarter-finals, second leg
30 April/1 May: Semi-finals, first leg
7/8 May: Semi-finals, second leg
Saturday 1 June: Final – Estadio Metropolitano, Madrid