Champions League draw time: How to watch live from the UK today, when it starts and full list of UCL group stage pots

The draw for the Champions League group stage takes place today, with Europe’s premier club competition gradually settling into the new schedule forced upon it by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year’s edition actually started before the knockouts from the previous season’s neverending tournament had finished – the 2020 final took place in Lisbon an unpredecented 14 months after the first qualifying game was played on 25 June 2019.

Northern Irish side Linfield played the first game of the 2020-21 Champions League on 8 August, beating San Marino’s Tre Fiori 2-0, the same day that Barcelona and Bayern Munich both qualified for the 2019-20 version’s quarter-finals.

This year’s format will be adjusted due to the condensed schedule. However, we will see the return to the two-legged knockout stage – a format dispensed with in the Portuguese mini-tournament this summer – although qualifying matches were reduced to one-legged affairs.

Here’s how you can watch live as Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea discover which sides await them in this year’s group stages.

NYON, SWITZERLAND - SEPTEMBER 1: A detailed view of the UEFA Champions League trophy during the UEFA Champions League 2020/21 Play-off Round Draw at the UEFA headquarters, The House of European Football on September 1, 2020 in Nyon, Switzerland. (Photo by Harold Cunningham - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
This year’s Champions League is following a different schedule due to the Covid-19 pandemic (Photo: Uefa/Getty Images)

Group stage draw

The draw for the group stages of the Champions League, the point at which the competition proper begins, had to wait until those qualifying stages and play-offs had been completed.

It will take place in Athens, the new host for the 2021 final, on Thursday 1 October 2020 at 4pm UK time, just under three weeks before the matches are due to get underway.

Fans in the UK will be able to watch coverage of the draw live from 3.45pm on BT Sport 1 on TV, online or via the app.

Champions League group stage fixture dates

In order the squeeze the entire group stage in before Christmas, the gameweeks will be coming thick and fast from last October to the start of December:

  • Matchday 1: 20-21 October
  • Matchday 2: 27-28 October
  • Matchday 3: 3-4 November
  • Matchday 4: 24-25 November
  • Matchday 5: 1-2 December
  • Matchday 6: 8-9 December

Full pots list

Each group will receive one team from each pot, meaning for example that Premier League champions Liverpool cannot be drawn alongside Bayern Munich, or Manchester City cannot be drawn with Barcelona. Teams also cannot be drawn against other teams from their home country.

NYON, SWITZERLAND - AUGUST 09: A general view during the UEFA Champions League 2020/21 First Qualifying Round draw at the UEFA headquarters, The House of European Football on August 9, 2020 in Nyon, Switzerland. (Photo by Harold Cunningham - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
The pot system allows Uefa to keep top sides apart in the groups (Photo: Getty)

Pot 1

  • Bayern Munich
  • Juventus
  • Liverpool
  • Porto
  • PSG
  • Real Madrid
  • Sevilla
  • Zenit St Petersburg

Pot 2

  • Barcelona
  • Atletico Madrid
  • Manchester City
  • Manchester United
  • Borussia Dortmund
  • Shakhtar Donetsk
  • Chelsea
  • Ajax

Pot 3

  • Dynamo Kiev
  • Red Bull Salzburg
  • RB Leipzig
  • Inter Milan
  • Olympiakos
  • Lazio
  • Krasnodar
  • Atalanta

Pot 4

  • Lokomotiv Moscow
  • Marseille
  • Club Brugge
  • Borussia Monchengladbach
  • Istanbul Besaksehir
  • Midtjylland
  • Rennes
  • Ferencvaros

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