Who could Aston Villa draw in the Champions League? Qualified teams, pots and new format explained

There may be a couple of months without club action ahead, but Aston Villa and its supporters are eagerly counting down the days until they see their team back in action and ready for the Champions League.

The result of a major collective effort during 18 months of rebuilding under Unai Emery saw Villa return to UEFA's elite competition for the first time in four decades. Now new generations of the club's fans will be able to witness the one-time European Cup winners back on a stage not many predicted they would be on.

Entering alongside Premier League victors Manchester City, runners-up Arsenal and third-placed Liverpool, Villa and the English contingent will immediately be thrown in at the deep end as they must traverse an entirely new Champions League format. Instead of 32 teams split into eight individual groups, an increased 36 teams will compete in one giant league table.

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Known as the 'Swiss model', a club will face eight different opponents in what has been rebranded from the traditional group stage to the 'league stage'. This means two extra matches than previously for everyone involved, with four taking place at home and the other four away, rather than three opponents faced twice each.

The points and goal differences are totted up in a collective standings, with the top eight teams automatically qualifying for the knockout stages. Those ranked ninth through to 24th are then placed in a play-off round to determine the competition's last 16, from which point normal service resumes, albeit with the addition of seeding.

Of the 36 teams that will be involved, 29 have so far been whittled down for the league phase. The outcome of Saturday's final for the 2023/24 season will see one final team added - Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine if Real Madrid win, or Eintracht Frankfurt of Germany if Borussia Dortmund are successful - before the final six are confirmed via qualifying rounds this summer.

Every single club possesses what is called a UEFA coefficient - a number based on continental performance over the last five seasons. This is ultimately used to place the teams into the pots used to draw from, with the league stage being picked on August 29.

With many domestic competitions wrapping up over the weekend, Villa now have a much clearer image of who will be involved. Here are the qualified clubs, how they have achieved this and their respective coefficients. Those listed with an asterisk are not yet assured of a league place and await future results for exact confirmation:

23/24 Champions League winner: TBC - either Real Madrid or Borussia Dortmund will move to here from their respective previous qualification methods

23/24 Europa League winner: Atalanta (79.000)

England: 1st Manchester City (148.000), 2nd Arsenal (72.000), 3rd Liverpool (114.000), 4th Aston Villa (17.000)

Spain: 1st Real Madrid (134.00), 2nd Barcelona (91.000), 3rd Girona (N/A), 4th Atletico Madrid (89.000)

Germany: 1st Bayer Leverkusen (90.000), 2nd VfB Stuttgart (N/A), 3rd Bayern Munich (144.000), 4th RB Leipzig (97.000)

Italy: 1st Inter Milan (101.000), 2nd AC Milan (59.000), 3rd Juventus (80.000), 5th Bologna (N/A)

France: 1st Paris Saint-Germain (116.000), 2nd AS Monaco (24.000), 3rd Brest (N/A)

Netherlands: 1st PSV Eindhoven (54.000), 2nd Feyenoord (57.000)

Portugal: 1st Sporting CP (54.500)

Belgium: 1st Club Brugge (64.000)*

Scotland: 1st Celtic (32.000)

Austria: 1st Sturm Graz (14.500)

European Performance Spots: AS Roma (101.000)*, Borussia Dortmund (79.000)

Champions League winner rebalancing: Shakhtar Donetsk (63.000)* or Eintracht Frankfurt (60.000)*

Europa League winner rebalancing: SL Benfica (79.000)*