UEFA Champions League draw live updates: 2022/23 group stage fixtures to be revealed in Istanbul
The road to Istanbul begins in Istanbul, with the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League group stage draw taking place on Thursday 25 August in the city that will host the June 2023 final.
The 32 clubs that qualified for the group stage – 26 automatic qualifiers along with six sides who fought their way through the qualifying rounds – will learn their fate as names are drawn from the pots at the glittering ceremony.
Eight groups will be formed, with the top two finishers in each group advancing to the knockout stages.
There’s guaranteed to be some blockbuster group matches given how the pots have been shaken (a full pot breakdown follows below), including the possibility of last season’s finalists – Liverpool and Real Madrid – meeting again directly in the group stage .
The Sporting News will follow the event live and provide regular updates on all the happenings from Istanbul, including all the details surrounding the group selection.
MORE: Ideal Champions League group stage draw? That’s it
| pot 1 | pot 2 | pot 3 | pot 4 | |
| Group A | — | — | — | — |
| Group B | — | — | — | — |
| Group C | — | — | — | — |
| Group D | — | — | — | — |
| Group E | — | — | — | — |
| Group F | — | — | — | — |
| Group G | — | — | — | — |
| Group H | — | — | — | — |
Champions League pulls live updates from 2022/23 ceremony in Turkey
6 p.m. ET: We’re six hours away from finding out if the following groups can become a reality. Sporting News has already presented the draw we would like to see.
The groups we’d all like to see from tomorrow’s Champions League draw. 🤤 pic.twitter.com/0Oidqj1LH1
— 90min (@90min_soccer) August 24, 2022
Champions League pots: This is how the 32 teams are seeded
There are four pots from which names are drawn to fill groups A through H. Each pot includes eight teams:
| pot 1 | pot 2 | pot 3 | pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| real Madrid (Champions League) |
Liverpool (2) | Borussia Dortmund (19) | Rangers (33) |
| Eintracht Frankfurt (European League) |
Chelsea (5) | RB Salzburg (21) | Dynamo 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) |
Atlético Madrid (9) | Naples (25) | Club Brugge (44) |
| PSG (1st, France) |
Seville (12) | Benfica (27) | Celtic (51) |
| postage (1st, Portugal) |
RB Leipzig (13) | Sports CP (28) | Victoria Pilsen (55) |
| ajax (1st, Netherlands) |
Tottenham (14) | Bayer Leverkusen (30) | Maccabi Haifa (169) |
Here’s how the teams ended up in each pot:
pot 1
Pot 1 consists of the defending champions of the Champions League (Real Madrid) and the Europa League (Eintracht Frankfurt) as well as the reigning champions from all six top nations in the UEFA country coefficient list.
As Real Madrid are Spanish champions (a top 6 nation) as well as the defending UEFA Champions League champions, the spot in Pot 1 reserved for the Spanish champions is allocated to the next best nation in the countries’ coefficient list. In this case, that’s the Netherlands and their reigning Eredivisie champions Ajax, lifted into Pot 1.
Pots 2-4
Pots 2, 3 and 4 are based on the UEFA club coefficient list, which is a ranking based on a mathematical formula and 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 above.
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 moved to the next available place in another group.
This is a consideration for 24 of the 32 participating clubs, coming from countries that have multiple participants as indicated in the list below:
| number of societies |
nation | societies |
|---|---|---|
| 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, Atlético Madrid, Seville |
| 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 | Dynamo Zagreb |
| 1 | Czech Republic | Victoria Pilsen |
| 1 | Denmark | FC Copenhagen |
| 1 | Israel | Maccabi Haifa |
| 1 | Netherlands | ajax |
| 1 | Ukraine | Shakhtar Donetsk |
Champions League Draw TV Channels Live Stream
The 2022/23 UEFA Champions League group stage draw will take place on 25 August at 18:00 local time in Istanbul, Turkey.
The event will be televised in the UK and US and available to stream in other regions.
| country | date | time | TV channel | stream |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Friday 26 August | 02:00 CEST | — | Stan sports |
| Canada | Thursday 25 August | 12:00 p.m. ET | — | DAZN |
| Hong Kong | Friday 26 August | 00:00 CEST | — | UEFA.tv, UEFA YouTube |
| India | Thursday 25 August | 21:30 CET | — | UEFA.tv, UEFA YouTube |
| Malaysia | Friday 26 August | 00:00 CET | — | UEFA.tv, UEFA YouTube |
| New Zealand | Friday 26 August | 04:00 NZST | — | UEFA.tv, UEFA YouTube |
| Singapore | Friday 26 August | 00:00 SST | — | UEFA.tv, UEFA YouTube |
| United Kingdom | Thursday 25 August | 17:00 CET | BT sport 1 | BT Sport site/app |
| United States of America | Thursday 25 August | 12:00 p.m. ET | TUDN | fuboTV, Vix+, Paramount+, CBS sports headquarters |
When does the Champions League start?
In the group stage of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League, the Opening match day September 6th and 7th. All matches are played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.
A notable feature of this season’s fixture list is that all six group matchdays will take place over an eight-week period to find a conclusion before the break for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which will be played for the first time in November and December.
Here are the key dates to circle on your calendar when it comes to the Champions League group stage fixture list:
| group Gameday |
Events |
|---|---|
| 1 | September 6-7, 2022 |
| 2 | September 13 and 14, 2022 |
| 3 | 4th-5th October 2022 |
| 4 | 11-12 October 2022 |
| 5 | 25-26 October 2022 |
| 6 | 1st-2nd November 2022 |
Knockout Stage Schedule
The draw for the 2022/23 Champions League round of 16 will take place on 7 November 2022, just a few days after the conclusion of the group stage.
The draw for the remaining rounds (quarter-finals and semi-finals) of the 2022/23 Champions League knockout stages will take place on 17 March 2023.
| Round | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|
| round of 16 | 14-22 February 2023 | 7th-15th March 2023 |
| quarter finals | 11-12 April 2023 | 18-19 April 2023 |
| semifinals | 9th-10th May 2023 | 16-17 May 2023 |
| final | June 10, 2023 (Istanbul, Turkey) | |