Next season's UEFA Champions League seeds
Monday, May 18, 2015
Article summary
FC Barcelona, Chelsea FC, FC Bayern München, Juventus, SL Benfica, Paris Saint-Germain, FC Zenit and PSV Eindhoven will be placed in Pot 1 for the 2015/16 group stage draw.
Article top media content
Article body
The eight seeds for the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League group stage draw have now been determined.
Next season's top seeds (based on 2015/16 access list)*
FC Barcelona (ESP)
Chelsea FC (ENG)
FC Bayern München (GER)
Juventus (ITA)
SL Benfica (POR)
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
FC Zenit (RUS)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Following a significant change in the regulations, Pot 1 for the draw – in Monaco on 28 August – will now be formed by the champions of the top seven associations: Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France and Russia.
The regulations state that the eighth seeding will be taken by the UEFA Champions League holders. However, as both finalists this time round – Barcelona and Juventus – have already won their domestic titles, that slot goes to PSV, winners of the championship in the Netherlands, who are the eighth-ranked association.
Previously, the pots were ordered purely by the coefficients of the competing clubs. The change was proposed in 2014 by the UEFA Club Competitions Committee before being approved by the UEFA Executive Committee. It is another decision that helps strengthen the hand of domestic title holders in the competition.
The other three pots will be set using the club coefficient rankings, which UEFA compiles based on results over the last five UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League campaigns. More information about how the coefficients are formed can be found in Annex D of the Regulations of the UEFA Champions League, 2015/16 edition.
*Subject to final approval from UEFA
