Champions League draw 2022-23 live tracker: Results, groups, pots, streaming, start time, news

It's one of the best looking trophies in world sport and one deserving side will be lifting it in Istanbul in June.

Manchester City are seen, by many, as the favourites to triumph for the first time in the competition while PSG are widely tipped to achieve the same feat. But, you could certainly argue that the field has never been so open in competition for the Champions League.

All of Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Inter, Juventus and Ajax will harbour genuine ambitions of lifting the trophy. Out of all the teams mentioned, who do you think has the best chance?

(Photo: Getty Images)

There are plenty of fine details when it comes to a draw as important as the Champions League group stage draw. We'll provide all the details as they happen on this live blog with the draw set to begin in just under an hour's time.

We have also put together a comprehensive guide to this afternoon's draw, which you can check out below.

GO FURTHER

Everything you need to know before today’s Champions League draw

UEFA has agreed a deal for the US media rights for its club tournaments with Paramount Global, the owner of the CBS network, who saw off Amazon to agree one of the most lucrative broadcast deals in world sport.

Paramount Global have agreed a six-year deal for the rights, in a total package worth $1.5billion, which breaks down to $250million per season.

This is a dramatic increase on the $100million per season previously paid by Paramount and Univision.

GO FURTHER

UEFA strikes record deal with CBS for Champions League US TV rights

The new Champions League ball was released today and it is a thing of beauty.

The football calendar is condensed this season due to the first ever winter World Cup.

This year's Champions League group stage is squeezed into just nine weeks of the calendar. Is it possible to argue it's still the pinnacle of football, especially in the shadow of the World Cup? Or are these games just fixture-fulfillment?https://t.co/AsoXtu86wG

— Jack Pitt-Brooke (@JackPittBrooke) August 25, 2022

Real Madrid won a record 14th Champions League last season when they defeated Liverpool 1-0 at the Stade de France.

Real Madrid - 14

AC Milan - 7

Bayern Munich - 6

Liverpool - 6

Barcelona - 5

Ajax - 4

Manchester United - 3

Inter Milan - 3

Good morning to those who are just joining us from the United States and Canada.

The Champions League group stage draw is now less than two hours away.

Here's a reminder of the teams and the pots.

Something that's been on the cards for a while!

This season's Champions League will be the first time in 15 years that Rangers and Celtic will be competing in the group stage. A great moment for Scottish football!

UEFA’s executive committee agreed in May to a new format for the Champions League from the start of 2024-25 after two years of intense debate.

The number of teams competing in the competition will increase from 32 to 36, meaning there will now be 189 matches instead of 125, and the group stage will be replaced by a league phase — otherwise known as the “Swiss model”.

Each team will be guaranteed to play eight matches in the league phase. The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stage. Those finishing in ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged play-off to determine who reaches the last-16 of the competition.

Two of the extra four slots will be awarded to nations whose clubs achieve the best collective performance in the season before — a notable move away from the much-maligned and heavily criticised five-year historical coefficients.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst saluted his players for getting over the line in Eindhoven to reach the Champions League group stage, but he also stressed that left-behind striker Alfredo Morelos was part of the achievement.

Morelos was left out of the 23-man squad that travelled to the Netherlands for Wednesday’s play-off second-leg against PSG as Van Bronckhorst said he did not deem him ready to play.

The manager said he would have to improve his mental and physical fitness before he would have a route back into the team, but his replacement Antonio Colak scored the winning goal against PSV — his fifth in his last six starts.

Click here to read the full story.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Carlo Ancelotti spearheaded Real Madrid to their 14th Champions League trophy last season and has been an instrumental figure throughout the tournaments recent history.

It remains to be seen how long Ancelotti carries on in management, but he has already confirmed that Real Madrid will be his last job.

Click here to read the full story.

UEFA announced in May that Russian sides would be banned from competing in European competition until further notice following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Their co-efficient points were also removed.

That has had a knock-on effect for the Champions League’s “access list” — with Scottish sides among those to benefit in 2022-23.

Read more below.

It's going to be a new experience for most football supporters across the world with the World Cup taking place between November and December this year.

So how much impact does it have on the Champions League?

Last season’s Champions League group stage ran from mid-September to early December but the 2022-23 competition will begin earlier than normal to accommodate the winter World Cup.

Group games will start a week earlier on September 6-7 and conclude on November 1-2.

With Premier League fixtures scheduled for the weekends of November 5-6 and 12-13, players are set for gruelling schedules before the big World Cup kick-off on November 20 — and international managers face a tight turnaround in getting their squads ready for action.

The Champions League will use a camera-based system to judge offside calls in the group stage of this season’s competition, UEFA has confirmed.

Semi-Automated Offside Technology, which was approved last month by FIFA for the World Cup in Qatar, uses multiple cameras to track players’ limbs and the moment when a key pass is made.

Controversial calls have occurred across Europe, with on-screen lines drawn for marginal calls criticised for resulting in ‘armpit offsides’.

Click here to read the full story.

(Photo: Getty Images)

UEFA will trial safe standing in next season’s Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.

The trial will only take place for clubs in England, Germany and France and will cover all matches in the men’s competitions except the finals.

UEFA describes the launch as its “Standing Facilities Observer Programme 2022-23”. It adds that it will “observe the use of such facilities in domestic as well as international club competition matches”.

Read more from Luke Bosher.

(Photo: Getty Images)

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) made a temporary amendment to their substitution regulations in May 2020 as a response to the global pandemic.

Top domestic and international competitions were given the option of allowing teams to use up to five subs, but after extending that provision several times, the IFAB this summer finally made the change permanent.

Up to five substitutes listed on a teamsheet can take part in a match and a sixth sub is permitted to take part in knockout games — but only during extra time.

Each team can use a maximum of three stoppages in play to make substitutions, with one extra allowed in extra time. Substitutions made before the start of the match, at half-time, between the end of normal playing time and extra time, and at half-time of extra time do not count towards the allocation.

UEFA has agreed a deal for the US media rights for its club tournaments with Paramount Global, the owner of the CBS network, who saw off Amazon to agree one of the most lucrative broadcast deals in world sport.

Paramount Global have agreed a six-year deal for the rights, in a total package worth $1.5billion, which breaks down to $250million per season.

This is a dramatic increase on the $100million per season previously paid by Paramount and Univision.

Click here to read the full story.

(Photo: Getty Images)

There are plenty of reasons why many football supporters get excited about the Champions League draw, but there are also many different aspects to it.

So, what should you look out for in the draw today?

The Athletic has compiled an explainer on everything you need to know and what to look out for on the eve of the draw at 5pm BST.

???? Where to watch draw???? Teams that cannot be drawn together???? A first for the Bundesliga???? What about that ‘Swiss model’?

The draw for the group stage of the #UCL takes place today, and there have been some important changes. Here’s what you need to know about the #UCLdraw.

— The Athletic UK (@TheAthleticUK) August 25, 2022

Two teams from the same football association cannot be drawn into the same group. That means, for example, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur cannot be placed together despite being in different pots.

England and Scotland have separate UEFA member associations, even though they are technically part of the same country, the United Kingdom. Therefore, Celtic and Rangers could be drawn against an English side.

There are usually geographic restrictions on the draw too. Since 2014, Russian and Ukrainian teams have been prevented from being placed in the same group.

However, this season, Russian teams have been banned from playing in UEFA competitions.

It promises to be an exciting draw, with plenty of elite teams in this season's competition.

UEFA has dismissed the Champions League final delay that followed chaos outside the stadium as a “moot point” for Liverpool and Real Madrid’s players.

The showpiece game in Paris on May 28 was delayed by 36 minutes, with fans forced to wait in long queues outside the Stade de France and subjected to tear gas from French police.

Some were unable to gain access to the stadium despite having genuine tickets and UEFA initially blamed the kick-off delay on Liverpool fans turning up late, before the French Senate ruled that supporters were “unfairly” held responsible.

Click here to read the full story.

(Photo: Getty Images)