Anticipation builds ahead of Champions League draw

Which clubs are in which pots for the draw?

The draw for the eight groups of four teams will take place on 30 August in Monaco. After the return legs of the play-offs yesterday, all of the pots for the draw are now confirmed. Pot 1 contains the winners of the Champions League and the Europa League plus the champions of the top six European leagues according to the UEFA five-year ranking. Teams are assigned to the other three pots for the draw based on their UEFA coefficient.

As TSG Hoffenheim have only previously played at continental level last season, their ranking is relatively low and, as such, they will go into the draw with the third-lowest coefficient of all the teams in Pot 4. That means Nagelsmann's charges will face an opponent from each of the first three pots. There is one point of note to consider for the group-phase draw: teams from the same country cannot face each other at this stage of the competition.

The pots at a glance

Pot 1:

Real Madrid

Atlético Madrid

Bayern Munich

FC Barcelona

Juventus

Paris Saint-Germain

Manchester City

Lokomotiv Moscow

 

Pot 2:

Borussia Dortmund

FC Porto

Manchester United

Shakhtar Donetsk

Benfica

Napoli

Tottenham

AS Roma

 

Pot 3:

Liverpool

FC Schalke 04

Olympique Lyon

AS Monaco

Ajax

CSKA Moscow

PSV Eindhoven

FC Valencia

 

Pot 4:

Viktoria Plzeň

Club Brugge

Galatasaray

Young Boys

Inter Milan

TSG Hoffenheim

Red Star Belgrade

AEK Athens

What is the prize money for the Champions League?

In total, UEFA will distribute almost €2 billion in prize money to the participating clubs. All 32 teams in the group stages will receive a starting fee of €15.25 million. During the group stage, performance bonuses will be paid for each match: €2.7 million for a victory and €900,000 for a draw. If the clubs reach the knockout stages, they will receive an additional bonus of €9.5 million for progressing to the round of 16, €10.5 million for the quarter-finals and €12 million for the semi-finals. The two clubs contesting the final will each be paid a sum of €15, with the winner receiving an additional €4 million. The so-called "Coefficient Ranking List" will see clubs receive further bonuses that are determined based on their international performances over the past 10 years. The lowest group-stage team will receive a €1.108 million share and the same amount will be added on to each position with the best of the 32 teams receiving €35.46 million. Then there is the market pool, with prize money distributed to clubs in accordance with the value of each national television market. The various market pool shares will be distributed among the participating clubs from a single association, meaning TSG will share this money with Bayern Munich, Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund.

Who is broadcasting the games this season and when will they take place?

As ZDF has not acquired any rights, no Champions League matches will be broadcast on free-to-air TV for the first time. Even pay-TV channel Sky no longer has as many broadcasting rights as it did last season. DAZN, meanwhile, has significantly expanded its rights package: of the 138 games, the streaming service will show 110 live and in full length – with exclusive rights to 104 of them. Sky will broadcast 34 matches live and in full length (28 exclusive). The Champions League semi-finals plus the final will be broadcast live by Sky and DAZN. In addition, Sky will have the rights to broadcast the simulcast of the parallel matches. Due to a cooperation with DAZN, Sky Sports bars will continue to show all the matches live.

The kick-off times will change this season. During the group stages, two games will kick off at 18:55 CET on both Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with all the remaining games on those days kicking off at 21:00 CET (previously 20:45 CET).