The UCL draw for the 2023/24 season marks the beginning of an intense period for the biggest football clubs in Europe. Fans, on the other hand, will be gearing up to enjoy some of the best football on display.
Teams will find out who they will face and begin to make arrangements for the tournament which will be played alongside their various domestic competitions in their countries of origin. By 5 PM WAT on 31 August, all teams will find out who they will face in the UCL draw.
Read on to learn who Victor Osimhen’s Napoli could face.
The class of 2023/24 is confirmed ✅
#UCLdraw || #UCL pic.twitter.com/laymtlZ4vx— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 30, 2023
UCL draw: 2023/24 season participants
The UCL draw for the 2023/24 season is the last draw that will feature 32 teams. This is because of the change of format announced a while ago by the president of UEFA, Aleksander Čeferin.
The new UEFA Champions League format will now have 36 teams in a league table format, with each team playing eight games in the usual round-robin format of the competition.
At the end of the tournament, 189 games would have been played as opposed to the 125 games that are played in the 32-team format. This means that the winners of the 2023/24 UCL will go down in history.
Victor Osimhen’s Napoli, who have never won the title, will be fighting to be that lucky team.
This is the full list of teams – including Napoli – that will be vying for the 2023/24 title after the UCL draw is concluded.
Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
Manchester City | Real Madrid | Shakhtar Donetsk | Real Sociedad |
Sevilla | Manchester United | Red Bull Salzburg | Galatasaray |
Barcelona | Inter Milan | AC Milan | Celtic |
Napoli | Borussia Dortmund | Braga | Newcastle United |
Bayern Munich | Atlético de Madrid | Lazio | Union Berlin |
Paris Saint-Germain | Red Bull Leipzig | Red Star Belgrade | RC Lens |
Benfica | FC Porto | PSV Eindhoven | Royal Antwerp |
Feyenoord | Arsenal | FC København | Young Boys |
UCL draw: Napoli’s possible opponents
Napoli did the impossible to claim the 2022/23 Italian Serie A title. Victor Osimhen was at the forefront of that miracle, with his 26 goals earning him the Capocannoniere award for the league’s top scorer and allowing Napoli to finish with the most goals in the league.
Now, they have found themselves as one of the top-seed teams for the 2023/24 UCL draw. This means that other teams will be lucky not to face them and that they will also be avoiding the champions of the top league until the knockout rounds.
Below are the opponents that Napoli could face in the 2023/24 UCL after the UCL draws are concluded.
Pot 2: Real Madrid, Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Atlético de Madrid, Red Bull Leipzig, FC Porto, Arsenal
Pot 3: Shakhtar Donetsk, Red Bull Salzburg, Braga, Red Star Belgrade, PSV Eindhoven, FC København
Pot 4: Real Sociedad, Galatasaray, Celtic, Newcastle United, Union Berlin, RC Lens, Royal Antwerp, Young Boys.
Along with the other teams in Pot 1 – Manchester City, Sevilla, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica, Feyenoord – the other Italian teams in the competition – AC Milan, Inter Milan and Lazio – will not face Napoli in the group stages thanks to UEFA’s guidelines.
Pots ✅
Build your dream group 🧐#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/JHfdCl1uAe
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 31, 2023
When are the UCL fixtures after the UCL draw?
Group Stage Fixtures
- Matchday 1: 19-20 September
- Matchday 2: 3-4 October
- Matchday 3: 24-25 October
- Matchday 4: 7-8 November
- Matchday 5: 28-29 November
- Matchday 6: 12-13 December
Knockout Stage Fixtures
- Round of 16 (1): 13-14 and 20-21 February
- Round of 16 (2): 5-6 and 12-13 March 2024
Quarter-finals Fixtures
- Quarterfinal 1 and 2: 9-10 April 2024
- Quarterfinal 3 and 4: 16-17 April 2024
Semi-finals
- Semi-final 1: 30 April and 1 May 2024
- Semi-final 2: 7 and 8 May 2024
Final: June 1, 2024
This article was most recently revised and updated 1 year ago