In a season of change, this year's Champions League draw will see four Premier League clubs await their fate - and the identity of their opponents - as the 2024-25 edition finally gets under way.
After much speculation about a fresh format for UEFA's top tournament, English champions Manchester City will be joined by Arsenal, Liverpool and newcomers Aston Villa - and the expectant quartet will soon find out exactly what lies in store.
Between September and January, every team will play eight times - each match against different opponents - with the fixture list to be confirmed on Thursday, August 29 in Monaco.
Here, Sports Mole takes a look at which sides could stand in the English clubs' way of a place in the knockout stage.
How will the draw work?
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While 29 teams qualified automatically for this year's Champions League, a further seven have come through qualifying, ultimately booking their place via the playoffs.
Clubs are seeded - then placed in four separate pots of nine teams each - based on their UEFA coefficient, which relates to how they have recently fared in European competition.
Everyone is guaranteed eight league-phase games - four home, four away - rather than the previous six-match group stage. Furthermore, the format change sees a shift towards one big league table.
Crucially, each team will play two opponents from each pot - 1, 2, 3 and 4 - which should ensure a fair fixture list for all. In theory, at least.
The league phase pots
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POT 1: Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona
POT 2: Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta BC, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan
POT 3: Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Celtic, Young Boys, Dinamo Zagreb, Lille, Red Bull Salzburg, Red Star Belgrade
POT 4: Monaco, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest, Sparta Prague, Slovan Bratislava
Who could the English clubs face? Worst-case scenario
![Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola pictured on April 16, 2024 [IMAGO]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/26/pep-guardiola.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola pictured on April 16, 2024 [IMAGO]")
© Imago
European champions in 2023, Manchester City are back in familiar territory this season, and Pep Guardiola's side will be among the favourites to prevail next spring.
Having pushed City all the way in last term's top-flight campaign, Premier League runners-up Arsenal are now entering the Champions League for a 20th time.
Six-time champions of Europe, Liverpool will make their return to the continent's top club competition after a one-year absence, as the Arne Slot era gets under way.
Meanwhile, Champions League new-boys Aston Villa are on the rise under Unai Emery, having recently reached the Europa Conference League semi-finals: the Villans were kings of Europe back in 1982.
All four could face the same fate in Thursday's draw, as regardless of ranking, every team must take on two opponents from each pot.
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Therefore, a nightmarish series of fixtures against established heavyweights and tricky outsiders may be in store; for instance, reigning champions Real Madrid and German giants Bayern Munich might be drawn from pot one.
Then, Thiago Motta's new-look Juventus and Xabi Alonso-inspired Bundesliga winners Bayer Leverkusen - who simply never know when they are beaten - could come out of pot two.
As if that were not tough enough, a prolific PSV Eindhoven team that deposed Feyenoord as Dutch champions last term may await in pot three, alongside a Sporting side led by highly-rated head coach Ruben Amorim.
Finally, last season's surprise Bundesliga runners-up Stuttgart are lurking in pot four, where Girona and Monaco are no pushovers, either.
Who could the English clubs face? Best-case scenario
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Alternatively, UEFA's new randomised, computer-created draw has the potential to throw up a much simpler set of fixtures for the four Premier League clubs.
In pot one, perhaps the best team to meet is a Borussia Dortmund side that finished fifth in Germany last season - albeit they did come within 90 minutes of winning the Champions League. With managerial novice Nuri Sahin settling in, BVB may be vulnerable.
While Barcelona remain a work in progress under new management, Dani Olmo-less Leipzig might well be the other opponents that English clubs would prefer to draw from the top pot.
Then, from pot two, Club Brugge and Shakhtar Donetsk stand out. The Belgians just lost Antonio Nusa to Leipzig and have made a mixed start in defence of their title, while Shakhtar are still unable to play on home soil and will find it tough to focus solely on football.
In pot three, Celtic's recent Champions League record is woeful and boss Brendan Rodgers has barely made an impact on European competition, while the likes of Dinamo Zagreb, Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys all needed to go through the qualifiers to reach this stage.
Finally, there are naturally fewer teams to fear in pot four, but Bologna may take time to rebuild post-Thiago Motta and Joshua Zirkzee.
Though they impressed in Ligue 1 last term, Brest are true rookies, Sturm Graz somehow ended Salzburg's long reign as Austrian champions but may now be found out at the elite level, and Slovan Bratislava came through the qualifiers.
Jonathan O'Shea
