Draw horror or possible cards? The club gets a view of CL opponents

Club Brugge were crowned champions last season after an unexpected comeback in the playoffs. They are therefore also automatically qualified for the main tournament of the Champions League. While the Champions Ball is being given a completely new look.

From next season, European competitions will no longer have a traditional group stage. Instead, a single overall ranking of 36 teams will be compiled. The top eight qualify directly for the 1/8 finals. Numbers 9 to 24 first complete an intermediate round.

Before New Year’s Eve, all teams will play eight matches. Half of them will be for our people, and the other half will be for the tour. To determine who these opponents will be, a lottery will be drawn first. For this, the teams are first placed in different pots.

Top stickers guaranteed anyway

This can now be largely completed. The club will therefore be placed in Pot 2 based on its UEFA coefficient. However, unlike previous years, this offers almost no advantage, as two teams from each pot must play against each other anyway.

As a result, the Belgian champion can prepare for at least two absolute blows against top-level teams, clubs of the caliber of Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, … . Some big names have also been placed in the second pot: Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Bayer Leverkusen, AC Milan, … .

Useful cards and treacherous teams

The remaining two pots still need to be completed with teams that must qualify through the preliminary rounds. But in Football Rankings The projection was made based on the statistically most likely contenders to survive the preliminary rounds.

Accordingly, Blau Zwart seem to have chances against teams like PAOK, Bodo/Glimt, Sturm Graz and Stade Brestois. But treacherous opponents like Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Aston Villa and Monaco are also options. So it is expected to be an interesting draw at the end of August.

🔷 UEFA Champions League – Predicted Pots.

🔶 Full predictions for all qualifying rounds are available on the P page (link in bio). pic.twitter.com/kgSPLygUGj

– Football Rankings (@FootRankings) July 19, 2024