The road to Istanbul will begin in Istanbul as the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League group stage draw will be held on Thursday, August 25 in the city that will host the final in June 2023.
The 32 clubs that have qualified for the group stage – 26 automatic qualifiers along with the six teams that earned berths in the qualifying rounds – will learn their fate when names are drawn from pots at a pompous ceremony.
Eight groups will take shape, with the top two from each group advancing to the knockout stages.
Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland will swiftly come toe-to-toe with their former teammates following Thursday’s group-stage draw for the Champions League.
Fresh from his move to Camp Nou in the transfer window, Lewandowski will return to familiar surroundings with Barcelona and Bayern Munich – who boast 11 Champions League titles between them – drawn in a tough Group C along with Inter.
And another reunion will see Haaland come up against Borussia Dortmund, whom he left to join Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. They find themselves in Group G alongside Sevilla and Copenhagen.
Another heavyweight clash will take place in Group H, with Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus set to lock horns.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | |
| Group A | Ajax Amsterdam | Liverpool | Napoli | Rangers |
| Group B | FC Porto | Atletico Madrid | Bayer Leverkusen | Club Brugge |
| Group C | Bayern Munich | Barcelona | Inter Milan | Viktoria Plzen |
| Group D | Eintracht Frankfurt | Tottenham | Sporting CP | Marseille |
| Group E | AC Milan | Chelsea | RB Salzburg | Dinamo Zagreb |
| Group F | Real Madrid | RB Leipzig | Shakhtar Donetsk | Celtic |
| Group G | Manchester City | Sevilla | B. Dortmund | FC Copenhagen |
| Group H | PSG | Juventus | Benfica | Maccabi Haifa |