UEFA Champions League draw: When is the draw, where to watch it, who are the English sides involved this season?

Europe’s elite teams are soon set to discover their UEFA Champions League group-stage opponents.

Premier League champions Manchester City, along with Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, are the English clubs who will be involved in the draw in Istanbul, where the final will be held in June next year.

Real Madrid are the current holders having overcome Liverpool 1-0 in last season’s final. Vinicius Junior netted the decisive goal on the hour mark to secure a 14th European title for the Spanish side.

With the draw for this season’s competition coming up, here’s when it will take place, where you can watch it and when the group stage of the competition will get underway.

When is the draw for the UEFA Champions League group stages?

The draw for the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League group stages takes place on Thursday, August 25 at 5pm, UK time.

The group-stage matches get started in the week of September 5.

Turkey’s capital, Istanbul, will play host to the draw with the final due to take place at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in June 2023.

Where can I watch the draw for the UEFA Champions League group stages?

You can follow the action on Eurosport.com where a live blog will keep you right up to date with the formation of each group, as it happens.

UK viewers can also watch live coverage of the draw on BT Sport.

How will the draw for this UEFA Champions League group stages be formatted?

Teams will be drawn into four pots of eight. The top two sides in each group progress to the knockout phase while the third-place team drops into the Europa League.

Winners of the Champions League, Europa League and UEFA’s top six national leagues are placed into Pot 1.

The remaining sides are spread evenly among the remaining three pots based on club coefficient, which measures their performance in previous UEFA competition.

The full line-up of teams will be revealed once the qualification rounds are completed on Wednesday, August 24.

Who are the English clubs involved in this year’s UEFA Champions League?

Premier League champions Manchester City will be out to get their hands on the only trophy which has alluded them under Pep Guardiola.

What are the key talking points?

Pot 2 sides Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham could all be drawn against the likes of Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich from Pot 1.

There are some dangerous looking teams in Pot 3 to look out for such as Napoli, Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund.

Rangers are hoping to join Celtic in the draw by beating PSV Eindhoven in the second leg of their play-off match. The tie is level at 2-2 after the first leg at Ibrox.