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Topics: Champions League, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Premier League
Chris Byfield
Topics: Champions League, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Premier League
The Champions League pots have been predicted ahead of the draw on Thursday.
The final six teams in the Champions League group stage will be decided by the outcome of this week’s qualification play-offs.
On Tuesday Young Boys take on Maccabi Haifa (with the scores locked at 0-0 after the first leg), Galatasaray face Molde (3-2) and Panathinaikos go up against Braga (1-2).
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Meanwhile, on Wednesday AEK Athens go up against Royal Antwerp (0-1), Copenhagen take on Raków Częstochowa (1-0) and PSV face Rangers (2-2).
Once the ties are completed the Champions League proper begins with a group stage of 32 teams, divided into eight groups of four. No group may contain more than one club from each nation.
The groups will be drawn from four seeding pots and each group will have one team from each pot.
And Twitter (X) account UEFA Rankings has crunched the numbers and worked out the respective Champions League pots should the results of each tie remain the same, and assuming that Young Boys edge past Maccabi Haifa and Rangers beat PSV.
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Of course, Pot 1 has been locked in for months, given it consists of the Champions League holders, the Europa League winners and the champions of UEFA's six highest-ranked nations who have not earned a place by winning either of the aforementioned tournaments.
Moreover, the other three pots are based on coefficient rankings, which are determined based on the results of all European clubs in UEFA club competitions.
Indeed, as per UEFA Rankings, the respective pots will look like this.
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Pot 1 will include Champions League winner Manchester City, Europa League winners Sevilla, La Liga champions Barcelona, Serie A champions Napoli, Bundesliga winners Bayern Munich, French title-holders Paris Saint-Germain, Portuguese champions Benfica and Erdevisie winners Feyenoord.
Pot 2 will include Real Madrid, Manchester United, Inter, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Porto and Arsenal.
Pot 3 will feature Shakhtar Donetsk, RB Salzburg, Rangers, AC Milan, Braga, Lazio, Red Star Belgrade and Copenhagen.
Finally, Pot 4 will include Young Boys, Real Sociedad, Galatasaray, Celtic, Newcastle United, Union Berlin, Royal Antwerp and Lens.
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However, if PSV beat Rangers this week they will be in Pot 3. Moreover, AEK Athens and Maccabi Haifa will be in Pot 4 if they eliminate Royal Antwerp and Young Boys.
Furthermore, Real Sociedad would go up to Pot 3 if both Braga and Young Boys are eliminated.