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On Thursday at 18.45 Monaco time, the UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony will begin. During it, the 32 strongest teams of the Old Continent will be divided into groups of four.
Clubs are divided into four baskets according to their UEFA rating. One team from each basket will enter the group.
The biggest intrigue is posed by the debutant "Man City" club, which spared no expense on strengthening their squad but only ended up in the third basket of strength.
In the fourth basket, you can also find very strong teams: the German champion Dortmund's "Borussia" and the ambitious "Napoli" from the Italian championships.
Two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage. The season begins on September 13-14.
Baskets of Strength:
Basket 1: "Man Utd" (England), "Barcelona" (Spain), London's "Chelsea" (England), Munich's "Bayern" (Germany), London's "Arsenal" (England), Madrid's "Real" (Spain), "Porto" (Portugal), Milan's "Inter" (Italy)
Basket 2: Donetsk's "Shakhtar" (Ukraine), "Lyon" (France), "Villarreal" (Spain), "Milan" (Italy), "Valencia" (Spain), "Marseille" (France), Moscow's CSKA (Russia), Lisbon's "Benfica" (Portugal)
Basket 3: St. Petersburg's "Zenit" (Russia), "Man City" (England), Piraeus' "Olympiakos" (Greece), Amsterdam's "Ajax" (Netherlands), Leverkusen's "Bayer" (Germany), Borisov's BATE (Belarus), "Basel" (Switzerland), "Lille" (France)
Basket 4: Dortmund's "Borussia" (Germany), "Trabzonspor" (Turkey), Zagreb's "Dinamo" (Croatia), "Napoli" (Italy), Nicosia's APOEL (Cyprus), "Genk" (Belgium), Galati's "Otelul" (Romania), Plzen's "Viktoria" (Czech Republic)
Awaiting the New Season:
UEFA Champions League anthem:
