Champions League 2023/24 taking shape

The next Champions League is starting to take shape. Sevilla qualified last night by virtue of their Europa League win, and will be joining FC Barcelona among the top seeds, the Liga champions automatically being granted that honour.

Pot One

FC Barcelona will in Pot One together with the Europa league winners Sevilla, the defending champion and the winners of the other highest ranked leagues in Europe.

Those other teams are Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Napoli, PSG and Benfica.

The only doubt now is the outcome of the Champions League Final. If Inter Milan win, they go into the top pot. If Man City win, and as they are already seeded, the place would be taken by Dutch champions Feyenoord.

Pot Two

The theoretically hardest group opponents for Barça are those in Pot Two, and all but one of those teams is already confirmed. The Catalans couldn't share a group with Real Madrid or Atlético Madrid, but could be drawn together with any of Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Porto or Arsenal.

The final team will either be Inter, but if the Italians win the Champions League, the spot would go to Shakhtar Donetsk.

Other qualifiers

A total of 26 teams have already secured passage into the group stage.Those teams are Red Bull Salzburg, AC Milan, Lazio, Red Star Belgrade, Real Sociedad (who Barça cannot meet), Celtic, Newcastle United, Union Berlin and Lens.

Another six teams will advance from the qualifying phase.