European soccer’s heavyweights and unheralded newcomers will find out their Champions League opponents when the draw for the opening league phase is made on Thursday in Monaco.
All will gather at a beach-side concert hall for the draw ceremony starting at 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT).
They include titleholder Paris Saint-Germain and newcomer Pafos of Cyprus. The record 15-time champion Real Madrid and first-timer Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan. English champion Liverpool and Norway’s Bodo/Glimt from inside the Arctic Circle.
Games in January in Almaty and Bodo shape to be among the coldest in competition history and the longest-ever trips for visiting teams.
Former champions who failed to qualify for this edition include AC Milan and Manchester United.
This is the second season of the league phase format with 36 teams playing eight different opponents and ranked in a single-standings table.
The weighted schedule gives each team two opponents drawn from each of the four seeding pots. Teams are seeded based on their ranking over five seasons of results in UEFA competitions.
Games start on Sept. 16 and the final league phase matchday is Jan. 28.
The top eight teams in the final standings advance to the round of 16 in March. Joining them will be winners of eight knockout playoffs, featuring teams ranked ninth to 24th, scheduled in February. The bottom 12 teams are eliminated.
Draw seedings:
Pot 1: Paris Saint-Germain (France), Real Madrid (Spain), Manchester City (England), Bayern Munich (Germany), Liverpool (England), Inter Milan (Italy), Chelsea (England), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Barcelona (Spain).
Pot 2: Arsenal (England), Bayer Leverkusen (Germany), Atletico Madrid (Spain), Benfica (Portugal), Atalanta (Italy), Villarreal (Spain), Juventus (Italy), Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany), Club Brugge (Belgium).
Pot 3: Tottenham (England), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Ajax (Netherlands), Napoli (Italy), Sporting Lisbon (Portugal), Olympiakos (Greece), Slavia Prague (Czech Republic), Bodo/Glimt (Norway), Marseille (France).
Pot 4: Copenhagen (Denmark), Monaco (France), Galatasaray (Turkey), Union Saint-Gilloise (Belgium), Qarabag (Azerbaijan), Athletic Bilbao (Spain), Newcastle (England), Pafos (Cyprus), Kairat Almaty (Kazakhstan).
