Who could Newcastle United play in the Champions League group stage?

How will the Champions League play out next season? When will Newcastle find out who they’re up against? And which teams could they face next season?

IF NEWCASTLE FINISH FOURTH, ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A QUALIFIER BEFORE THE GROUP STAGE?

No. Unlike previous seasons, when the team that finished fourth in the Premier League entered the Champions League in the qualifying stage, the current division of teams for the group stage automatically guarantees England four spots.

Therefore, it doesn’t matter if Newcastle finish third or fourth after Sunday’s final round of Premier League games. Whatever happens, they are now guaranteed a place in the group stage of the Champions League.

When does the group stage draw take place?

The Champions League group stage draw will take place on August 31, after the final qualifying round has been completed. The 32 teams participating in the competition will be drawn into eight groups of four.

ARE THE DATES FOR THE GROUP GAMES FIXED?

Yes. The dates for the six rounds of matches in the group stage of next season’s competition have already been set. They are:

First Matchday – 19th-20th September

Matchday 2 – 3rd-4th October

Matchday 3 – 24th-25th October

Fourth Matchday – 7th-8th November

Matchday 5 – 28th-29th November

Matchday 6 – 12th-13th December

Who could Newcastle face in the group stage?

This is where things start to get complicated. Newcastle are one of 18 clubs who have currently secured one of the 26 automatic group stage places available. The identities of the other eight clubs will be confirmed in the coming weeks once Europe’s domestic leagues have made their decision.

The final six spots, bringing the final roster to 32, will be determined through a series of qualifying rounds beginning in mid-June. The last play-off qualifying round takes place at the end of August. At that point, the full list of qualifiers will be known.

At this point the final seedings for the draw will be confirmed. The 32 teams participating in the Champions League are divided into four pots of eight. Each group consists of one team from each pot.

Seedings are determined by a club’s finishing position – the champions of the top six nations, determined by UEFA’s country coefficient, are guaranteed to be in pot one, along with this season’s Champions League and Europa League winners – and by each club’s UEFA coefficient reflecting both a club’s European record over the last five seasons and the strength of the domestic league in which it plays.

Given that Newcastle have not played European football at all for the last five years, they are currently the lowest of any club already qualified for next season’s competition and look set to be placed in pot four for sure.

WHO ARE THE 18 CLUBS GUARANTEED ALREADY IN NEXT SEASON’S GROUP STAGE?

In addition to Newcastle United, the following players are guaranteed to qualify for next season’s group stage:

Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, ​​Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Napoli, Lazio, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig, Paris St Germain, Benfica, Porto, Feyenoord, RB Salzburg, Celtic, Red Star Belgrade.

And who could secure the other eight automatic places?

The remaining eight automatic places will be allocated as follows:

Champions League winners (Inter Milan or place allocated to Ukrainian champions if Man City wins)

Europa League winners (Seville or Roma)

Third/fourth in the Premier League (Man Utd or Liverpool)

Third/fourth in La Liga (Real Sociedad or Villarreal)

Third/fourth in Serie A (Inter Milan, AC Milan, Atalanta or Roma)

Third/fourth in Serie A (Inter Milan, AC Milan, Atalanta or Roma)

Fourth in the Bundesliga (Union Berlin or Freiburg)

Ligue 1 runners-up (Lens or Marseille)

Who’s in contention for the playoffs?

Quite a number of teams could make it to the group stage via the play-offs but at this point some of the leading teams have already secured a play-off spot including: Rangers, Braga, AEK Athens, Sturm Graz, Dinamo Zagreb and Panathinaikos.

So what might the final seed look like?

There’s still quite a bit of guessing going on here, but as of this writing the final seedings for the group stage draw could look like this:

pot one: Manchester City, Seville, Barcelona, ​​​​Napoli, Borussia Dortmund, Paris St. Germain, Benfica, Feyenoord

pot two: Real Madrid, Manchester United, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Porto, RB Leipzig, Arsenal, Inter Milan

pot three: Lazio, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan, RB Salzburg, Lens, Marseille, PSV Eindhoven, Union Berlin

pot four: Newcastle United, Celtic, Real Sociedad, Genk, Young Boys, AEK Athens, Red Star Belgrade, Rangers