Champions League group-stage draw: Who Man Utd & Man City could face, plus how to watch

Manchester United and Manchester City will learn later this week which three sides they’ll face in the 2023/24 Champions League group stages.

For the Red Devils, it’s a return to Europe’s top table after competing in the Europa League last term, while City will be looking to defend their European crown.

Below, we have all the details ahead of this week’s highly anticipated draw…

When is the Champions League draw?

The draw takes place on Thursday 31 August in Monaco, and begins at 5pm UK time.

How to watch Champions League draw

The draw will be streamed live on Uefa’s website and YouTube channel, while TNT Sport are also broadcasting the proceedings from Monaco.

How does the draw work?

The draw will see four teams paired together in eight separate groups. The groups are seeded, with the top-ranked clubs in pot one, and the lowest in pot four. Pot one includes the Champions League and Europa League winners from last season, along with the 2022/23 league winners from the top-ranked divisions across Europe.

The draw begins with the first-ranked sides being drawn out, followed by the teams from pots two, three and four. Clubs from the same country cannot be drawn together in the group stages. After the draw is concluded, the fixture dates for the group-stage matches will be confirmed later that day.

Who could Man Utd & Man City face?

So far, 29 teams have secured their place in the group stages, and the final three spots will be determined this week via play-off matches. As European and English champions, City are in pot one, while United are in pot two.

POT ONE: Manchester City, Sevilla, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Napoli, Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica, Feyenoord

POT TWO: Real Madrid, Manchester United, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Porto.

POT THREE: Shakhtar Donetsk, RB Salzburg, AC Milan, Braga, Lazio, Red Star Belgrade

POT THREE OR FOUR: Young Boys, Real Sociedad

POT FOUR: Galatasaray, Celtic, Newcastle United, Union Berlin, Lens

Qualifying matches:

AEK Athens (0) v (1) Antwerp, Copenhagen (1) v (0) Rakow Czestochowa, PSV Eindhoven (2) v (2) Rangers

When are the group-stage matches?

Matchday 1: September 19/20

Matchday 2: October 3/4

Matchday 3: October 24/25

Matchday 4: November 7/8

Matchday 5: November 28/29

Matchday 6: December 12/13

Anything else?

The top two sides at the end of the group phase will progress to the Champions League knockout rounds, while the teams finishing third drop into the Europa League. Thursday’s draw will also include the presentation of the men’s and women’s 2022/23 Player of the Year awards and the Coach of the Year awards.