The competition’s greatest ever team, returns to compete for the biggest honour in club football.
Real Madrid will begin their quest for a 14th UEFA Champions League crown in October, but before that, they have to know who they’ll be coming up against in this year’s group stages.
When is the draw?
It all kicks-off from 17:00 CEST on Thursday 1st October, at the RTS Studios in Nyon, Switzerland.
Where can I watch it?
UEFA.com will be live streaming the event, for certain territories, but we’ll be covering the draw live on our official Twitter account @InfiniteMadrid, so please follow us and join in on all the conversations.
Which pot are Real Madrid in?
The teams who won their respective league titles from the top six associations are in pot one, alongside the current holders of the Champions League and Europa League – Bayern Munich and Sevilla, respectively. The other seedings are determined by current club coefficients. Naturally, there are 26 teams that have been given direct entry into the groups, and they will be joined by the six winners of the play-off ties, which are being completed today and will therefore decide pots three and four.
Pot 1: Bayern Munich, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St Petersburg, FC Porto
Pot 2: Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Manchester City, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Ajax
Pot 3 or 4: RB Leipzig, Inter Milan, Lazio, Atalanta, Lokomotiv Moscow, Marseille, Club Brugge, Borussia Mönchengladbach, İstanbul Başakşehi, Rennes
Who can Madrid face?
As is always the case, Real cannot draw any Spanish teams from any of the three other pots. And according to the UEFA Executive Committee, clubs from Russia and Ukraine must also not be drawn in the same group, which is some indication to what the groups can or may eventually look like.
The worst case scenario, on paper would be a group consisting of Madrid, Manchester City, Inter Milan and Rennes. Whereas the best case scenario would be either Shakhtar Donetsk or Ajax from pot two, with either Club Brugge or İstanbul Başakşehi from pot three, and then one of the teams who are yet to qualify into pot four to conclude. But just like every season, there’s always a chance for a group of death.
Match dates
Matchday 1: 20th-21st October 2020
Matchday 2: 27th-28th October 2020
Matchday 3: 3rd-4th November 2020
Matchday 4: 24th-25th November 2020
Matchday 5: 1st-2nd December 2020
Matchday 6: 8th-9th December 2020
And so, tomorrow the journey begins. From the group stages, with the eventual aim of standing on the podium at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium, Turkey, on Saturday 29th May 2021, lifting ‘big ears’ for a 14th time, and a fourth in the managerial career of Zinedine Zidane.
Let the games begin – A POR LA DECIMOCUARTA.
