Who’s in the 2019/20 Champions League group stages and who can qualify?
Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea in group stage
- Four Premier League teams will be in the 2019/20 Champions League group stage after Chelsea beat Arsenal in the Europa League final in Baku
Four Premier League teams will be in the 2019/20 Champions League group stage after Chelsea beat Arsenal in the Europa League final in Baku.
The result means the Gunners will spend a third successive season in the Europa League while Chelsea will be in the Champions League along with Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, and potentially Celtic.
Here’s all we know about the 2019/20 Champions League, including which teams have qualified, which pots they could be in and when the draws take place…
Who has qualified for the group stage?
There are 26 teams who automatically qualify for the Champions League group stage through their league position or by winning the Champions League or Europa League. Six then qualify through play-offs, which start with the preliminary rounds in late June.
The four Premier League teams to have already qualified for the group stages are Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham.
Champions League 2019/20 key dates
- July 9/10: Celtic start in first qualifying round
- August 29: Group stage draw
- September 17/18: First group stage matches
- May 30: Final in Istanbul
They will be joined by four teams from La Liga – Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Valencia – four from Serie A – Juventus, Napoli, Atalanta, Inter Milan – and four from the Bundesliga – Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen.
Also in the group stages will be: Paris Saint-Germain, Lille, Lyon (all from France), Zenit St Petersburg, Lokomotiv Moscow (both Russia), Benfica (Portugal), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Genk (Belgium), Galatasaray (Turkey), Red Bull Salzburg (Austria).
Did you know?
VAR will be used in every game from the play-off stage of the 2019/20 Champions League
Who will be in which pot?
The 32 teams that qualify for the group stage are placed into four pots, based on the coefficients of their respective leagues, their league positions and whether they won the Champions League or Europa League.
Pot One (the top-seeded pot) contains the champions of the six top-ranked nations along with the Champions League and Europa League winner.
That means Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern, PSG, Zenit and Chelsea are confirmed in Pot One. They will be joined by either Liverpool or Tottenham, with the loser of the Champions League final dropping down to Pot Two.
Whether it’s Liverpool or Spurs in Pot Two, they will not be able to face any of their Premier League rivals in the group stage as teams from the same nation can’t be drawn together.
Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Napoli and Borussia Dortmund are all in Pot Two while Inter Milan could be a dangerous side in Pot Three and Champions League newcomers Atalanta are in Pot Four.
If Celtic qualify they are likely to be in Pot Three.
The Scottish Premiership champions will have to negotiate four qualifying rounds to reach the group stage, with their first qualifying round tie to be played on July 9 or 10.
Ajax, who reached the semi-finals of this year’s Champions League and won the Eredivisie, will also have to qualify as they enter in the third qualifying round.
When is the draw?
The draw for the group stage takes place on August 29. The first round of group stage matches are on September 17/18.
The final will be played in Istanbul, Turkey.
Which teams are in the Europa League?
Arsenal and Manchester United will be in the 2019/20 Europa League group stage.
Wolves, who finished seventh in the Premier League, will start in the second qualifying round from July 25.
Scottish Premiership trio Rangers, Kilmarnock and Aberdeen all enter in the first qualifying round, which starts on July 11.
