Yahoo News What time is the Champions League draw? Aston Villa to discover opponents after radical change
Aston Villa will discover which teams they will face in the Champions League league phase when the draw is made later today.
Unai Emery's side qualified for UEFA's elite men's club competition by finishing fourth last season, ahead of Tottenham. They are guaranteed to play eight games in the league phase.
To determine the eight different opponents, teams will initially be ranked in four seeding pots. Each team will be drawn to play two opponents from each of these pots, playing one match against a team from each pot at home, and one away.
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Here is the key information about the draw you need to know...
What time is the draw?
The 2024/25 Champions League group stage draw takes place at 5pm (BST) this evening in Monaco.
How will the new draw format work?
The new draw will see 36 teams manually drawn using physical balls. For every team manually drawn, a designated automated software will randomly draw eight opponents across the four pots, who will be revealed on screen in the draw hall and on television. The software will also decide which matches will be at home and which ones away.
The draw will start with Pot 1, assigning eight opponents to all nine teams, one after the other, and will continue with the other pots in descending order until all teams have been assigned their eight opponents. UEFA say that the software will guarantee total randomness within the framework of the draw conditions stipulated by the regulations, while guaranteeing that the draw can be completed for all teams without resulting at any point in a deadlock situation.
Even though the teams will know all their opponents by the end of the draw, the fixture list with match dates and kick-off times will be elaborated afterwards and announced on Saturday, August 31, to ensure no calendar clashes with teams in UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League playing in the same cities.
UEFA have also confirmed that in the league phase teams cannot face opponents from their country and can be drawn against a maximum of two sides from the same country.
You can follow Villa's Champions League campaign on Discovery+tnt sport here
Who could Villa face?
Pot One: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona.
Pot Two: Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan.
Pot Three: Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Red Bull Salzburg, Young Boys, Celtic, Dinamo Zagreb, Lille, Crvena Zvezda.
Pot Four: Monaco, Sparta Prague, Aston VIlla, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest, Slovan Bratislava.
When are the 2024/25 Champions League league stage matches?
Matchday 1: 17–19 September 2024
Matchday 2: 1/2 October 2024
Matchday 3: 22/23 October 2024
Matchday 4: 5/6 November 2024
Matchday 5: 26/27 November 2024
Matchday 6: 10/11 December 2024
Matchday 7: 21/22 January 2025
Matchday 8: 29 January 2025
When are the 2024/25 Champions League draw dates?
First qualifying round: 18 June 2024
Second qualifying round: 19 June 2024
Third qualifying round: 22 July 2024
Play-offs: 5 August 2024
League phase: 29 August 2024
Knockout round play-offs: 31 January 2025
Round of 16, quarter-final, semi-final: 21 February 2025
