UEFA Champions League draw live updates: 2022/23 group stage fixtures to be announced in Istanbul
UEFA Champions League draw live updates: 2022/23 group stage fixtures to be announced in Istanbul
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The road to Istanbul begins in Istanbul, as the draw for the group stage of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League will take place on Thursday, August 25, in the city that will host the final in June 2023.
The 32 clubs that have qualified for the group stage - 26 automatic qualifiers plus six teams that secured a place via the qualifying rounds - will learn their fate when names are drawn from pots at the glittering ceremony.
Eight groups will be formed, with the top two from each group advancing to the knockout rounds.
Given the composition of the pots (see below for the full breakdown), there are guaranteed to be some exciting group matches, including the possibility of last season's finalists - Liverpool and Real Madrid - meeting right away in the group stage.
Newsbcs will be following the event live and providing regular coverage of all the happenings in Istanbul, including full details of the group eliminations.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | |
| Group A | Ajax Amsterdam | Liverpool | Napoli | — |
| Group B | FC Porto | Atletico Madrid | Bayer Leverkusen | — |
| Group C | Bayern Munich | Barcelona | Inter Milan | — |
| Group D | Eintracht Frankfurt | Tottenham | Sporting CP | — |
| Group E | AC Milan | Chelsea | RB Salzburg | — |
| Group F | Real Madrid | RB Leipzig | Shakhtar Donetsk | — |
| Group G | Manchester City | Sevilla | B. Dortmund | — |
| Group H | PSG | Juventus | Benfica | — |
Champions League draw 2022/23 in Turkey 12:43 h ET: Already in pot 3.
Napoli: The first team drawn has four options. A, B, C or D. And they get group A and Liverpool.
FC Salzburg: All seven groups are available for the Austrian team. They get group E.
Benfica: Three options. F, G and H. And they get PSG and Juventus.
Borussia Dortmund: Only Group G is available for the German team.
Bayer Leverkusen: Also has only one choice and that is Group B.
Sporting Lisbon: All three remaining groups are available for them (C, D, F). They join Spurs and Eintracht.
Shakthar Donetsk: Only one choice left in the face of Inter Milan. It's Real Madrid again.
Inter Milan: the last club joins Bayern and Barcelona. We have our group of death.
12:34 PM ET: Pot 2 is up. Here are the teams in order of selection:
RB Leipzig: They had a choice of groups E, F, G or H and have ended up in group F. It is the first time they will face Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Juventus: only group G and H are the options and they get PSG. Angel Di Maria will meet his ex-club.
Tottenham Hotspur: Have 5 options A-E. And it's group D. Eintracht for Spurs.
Liverpool: Three options for the Reds. A, B or C. And it's group A with Ajax.
Sevilla: Three options - B, C and G. The Spaniards get G against Man City.
Barcelona: They have only two options, B or C. And the Blaugrana gets to face Bayern Munich. Robert Lewandowski meets his ex-club!
Chelsea: There is only one option for the Blues, and that is with AC Milan in Group C
Atletico Madrid: And in Group B, it's once again against FC Porto.
12:28 PM ET: Ajax Amsterdam is the first name drawn, followed by FC Porto, Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and the rest. Each name takes the next group. No problems with pot 1, now it's pot 2's turn.
Group A: Ajax Amsterdam
Group B: FC Porto
Group C: Bayern Munich
Group D: Eintracht Frankfurt
Group E: AC Milan
Group F: Real Madrid
Group G: Manchester City
Group H: PSG 12:25 p.m. ET: It is clear from the explanatory video that this is a computerized draw that takes into account country conflicts, TV pairings and other considerations. It's all about the computer. Pot 1 comes first.
12:21 PM ET: UEFA's head of competition, deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti, is now on stage explaining the draw procedure. A video is played to clarify the details.
12:16 ET: Turkish international Hamit Altintop and former Man City star Yaya Toure are introduced. They will be involved in the draw.
12:11 p.m. ET: After a special video, Arrigo Sacchi comes on stage to receive the award. "I never thought this would happen," he says. "I have always done my best."
Sacchi says there are teams abroad that come closest to his soccer philosophy, even more so than the teams in his native Italy. He insists that the sport must entertain and provide excitement.
12:07 p.m. ET: They start with an award and that is the President's Award. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin explains why he decided to honor Arrigo Sacchi, calling him a visionary.
12:02 p.m. ET: The broadcast has begun. Co-hosts Pedro Pinto and Reshmin Chowdhury kick things off and immediately begin a recap of the highlights of 2021/22.
11:45 AM ET: Nice little tidbit from Squawka. Teams that were perfect in the group stage. There have only been 10 in history, and three of them last season.
11am ET: A reminder that three awards will also be presented at the event. Men's Player of the Year, Men's Coach of the Year, and a special President's Award.
8:30 AM ET: It's been a while since this has happened. The group stage will be more entertaining if both are there.
6 AM ET: We are six hours away from finding out if the following groups can become reality.
Champions League pots: how the 32 teams are seeded
There are four pots from which groups A to H are drawn. There are eight teams in each pot:
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real Madrid (Champions League) | Liverpool (2) | Borussia Dortmund (19) | Rangers (33) |
| Eintracht Frankfurt (Europa League) | Chelsea (5) | RB Salzburg (21) | Dinamo Zagreb (34) |
| Manchester City (1st, England) | Barcelona (6) | Shakhtar Donetsk (22) | Olympique Marseille (38) |
| AC Milan (1st, Italy) | Juventus (8) | Inter Milan (23) | FC Copenhagen (41) |
| Bayern Munich (1st, Germany) | Atletico Madrid (9) | Napoli (25) | Club Brugge (44) |
| PSG (1st, France) | Sevilla (12) | Benfica (27) | Celtic (51) |
| Porto (1st, Portugal) | RB Leipzig (13) | Sporting CP (28) | Viktoria Plzen (55) |
| Ajax (1st, Netherlands) | Tottenham (14) | Bayer Leverkusen (30) | Maccabi Haifa (169) |
Here you can see how the teams landed in the individual pots:
Pot 1
Pot 1 consists of the defending Champions League (Real Madrid) and Europa League (Eintracht Frankfurt) champions, as well as the reigning champions of the six countries at the top of the UEFA country coefficient list.
Since Real Madrid is both the Spanish champion (a top-six nation) and the defending UEFA Champions League champion, the spot reserved for the Spanish champion in pot 1 is allocated to the next best nation in the country coefficient list. In this case, that is the Netherlands and its reigning Eredivisie champion Ajax, who have been promoted to pot 1.
Pots 2-4
Pots 2, 3 and 4 are based on the UEFA Club Coefficient List, a ranking based on a mathematical formula that takes into account each club's performance in domestic and continental competitions over the past five years. Each club's UEFA club coefficient ranking is shown in brackets for pots 2-4.
Can teams from the same country be drawn into the same group?
Clubs from the same country cannot be drawn into the same group and must be placed in the next available place in another group.
This applies to 24 of the 32 participating clubs that are from countries that have multiple participants, as indicated in the list below:
| No. of clubs | Nation | Clubs |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Germany | Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, RB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt |
| 4 | England | Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham |
| 4 | Italy | AC Milan, Inter Milan, Napoli, Juventus |
| 4 | Spain | Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla |
| 3 | Portugal | Benfica, Porto, Sporting CP |
| 2 | France | PSG, Olympique Marseille |
| 2 | Scotland | Celtic, Rangers |
| 1 | Austria | RB Salzburg |
| 1 | Belgium | Club Brugge |
| 1 | Croatia | Dinamo Zagreb |
| 1 | Czech Rep | Viktoria Plzen |
| 1 | Denmark | FC Copenhagen |
| 1 | Israel | Maccabi Haifa |
| 1 | Netherlands | Ajax |
| 1 | Ukraine | Shakhtar Donetsk |
TV Pairings: Teams that cannot play at the same time.
In addition, UEFA has paired certain clubs from the same nation to ensure that they do not play at the same time during the group stage (to optimize ratings).
Thus, if one of the teams listed below is drawn into groups A-D, the opposing team will automatically be assigned to one of groups E-H and vice versa:
Real Madrid and Barcelona
Eintracht Frankfurt and RB Leipzig
Manchester City and Liverpool
AC Milan and Napoli
Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund
Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille
FC Porto and Benfica
Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur
Juventus and Inter Milan
Atletico Madrid and Sevilla
Champions League draw TV channel, live stream
The UEFA Champions League 2022/23 group stage draw will take place on August 25 at 18:00 local time in Istanbul, Turkey.
The event will be televised in the UK and the US and can be streamed in other regions.
| Country | Date | Time | TV channel | Streaming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Fri, Aug. 26 | 02:00 AEST | — | Stan Sport |
| Canada | Thurs, Aug. 25 | 12:00 ET | — | DAZN |
| Hong Kong | Fri, Aug. 26 | 00:00 HKT | — | UEFA.tv, UEFA YouTube |
| India | Thurs, Aug. 25 | 21:30 IST | — | UEFA.tv, UEFA YouTube |
| Malaysia | Fri, Aug. 26 | 00:00 MYT | — | UEFA.tv, UEFA YouTube |
| New Zealand | Fri, Aug. 26 | 04:00 NZST | — | UEFA.tv, UEFA YouTube |
| Singapore | Fri, Aug. 26 | 00:00 SST | — | UEFA.tv, UEFA YouTube |
| UK | Thurs, Aug. 25 | 17:00 BST | BT Sport 1 | BT Sport site/app |
| USA | Thurs, Aug. 25 | 12:00 ET | TUDN | fuboTV, Vix+, Paramount+, CBS Sports HQ |
When does the Champions League start?
The group stage of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League will open on September 6 and 7 with the first matchday. All matches will be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.
What makes this season's schedule special is that all six group stage matchdays will take place within eight weeks of each other to complete the group stage before the break for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which will be held for the first time in November and December.
Here are the key dates to circle in your calendar when it comes to Champions League group stage matches:
| Group Matchday | Dates |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sept. 6-7, 2022 |
| 2 | Sept. 13-14, 2022 |
| 3 | Oct. 4-5, 2022 |
| 4 | Oct. 11-12, 2022 |
| 5 | Oct. 25-26, 2022 |
| 6 | Nov. 1-2, 2022 |
Match schedule of the knockout phase
The draw for the round of 16 of the 2022/23 Champions League will take place on November 7, 2022, just a few days after the conclusion of the group stage.
The draw for the remaining rounds (quarterfinals and semifinals) of the 2022/23 Champions League round of 16 will take place on March 17, 2023.
| Round | 1st Leg | 2nd Leg |
|---|---|---|
| Round of 16 | Feb. 14-22, 2023 | Mar. 7-15, 2023 |
| Quarter-finals | Apr. 11-12, 2023 | Apr. 18-19, 2023 |
| Semi-finals | May 9-10, 2023 | May 16-17, 2023 |
| Final | June 10, 2023 (Istanbul, Turkey) | |
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