2019/2020 UCL draws: Recap of how it went down, big winners and the draw in full
The draws for the 28th edition of the UEFA Champions League were held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco and was attended by most notable figures in the world of football.
With past winners of the trophy and legends of the game like Petr Cech and Wesley Sneijder handling the draws, the world waited with bated breath to know the fate of their favourite clubs as the race for the biggest prize on offer in club football begins.
In case you missed the landmark event, not to worry, we have you covered. In this piece, we shall be recapping everything that went down at the Grimaldi Forum.
The Champions League Pots
Before the draws, UEFA announced that they would be following their established grouping pattern by classifying the teams in four different pots of eight teams each based on the strength of their coefficient ranking.
The coefficients are determined by a number of factors, including results aggregated over the last five seasons in European competitions, as well as the strength of the national leagues. The total points are then totalled, and clubs are classified hierarchically, with the pots then filled up by the clubs based on their coefficients.
The only exception to this classification was pot 1, as it was comprised of the domestic winners of the top six leagues (LaLiga, Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Russian Premier League), with the Champions League and Europa League winners completing the eight.
Hence, Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich, PSG, Zenit St. Petersburg, Liverpool and Chelsea were automatically placed into pot 1, while the remaining 24 teams were arranged on the basis explained above.
Apart from this eight, another 16 clubs had been guaranteed of their spot in this seasons group stage, owing to the strength of their league, but these 26 teams were joined by another six who were the final clubs left after a daunting qualification process that started way back in July.
The Champions League Pots in full:
Pot 1: Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich, PSG, Zenit St Petersburg, Liverpool, Chelsea
Pot 2: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk, Tottenham, Ajax, Benfica
Pot 3: Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, Red Bull Salzburg, Olympiacos, Club Brugge, Valencia, Inter Milan, Dinamo Zagreb
Pot 4: Lokomotiv Moscow, Genk, Galatasaray, RB Leipzig, Slavia Prague, Red Star Belgrade, Atalanta, Lille