Watch the UCL draw live in Nigeria: All you need to know

Read on to learn everything about the 2023/24 UCL draw.

The UEFA Champions League will return in September and see Manchester City defending a title for the first time in the competition. Real Madrid’s back-to-back title will take some beating but of the teams that can pull it off, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City tops the list.

First, they will need to find out their group-stage opponents. This will be determined in a draw which UEFA have scheduled to happen on Thursday 31 August 2023.

Here, Goalball Live brings you information on the UCL draw for the 2023/24 season.

The class of 2023/24 is confirmed ✅
#UCLdraw || #UCL pic.twitter.com/laymtlZ4vx

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 30, 2023

UCL draw: Teams participating in the 2023/24 season Champions League

26 teams qualified from the top-ranked leagues under UEFA and another six came from the UCL playoff rounds for the UCL draw. That makes a total of 32 teams gearing up to find out who they will be doing battle with in this season’s tournament with their eye on the title being held by Manchester City.

Super Eagles forwards Victor Osimhen (Napoli) and Samuel Chukwueze (AC Milan) will be partaking in this season’s competition. Super Eagles defender Zaidu Sanusi and his team FC Porto will also be in the tournament.

Red Star Belgrade, where Peter Olayinka plies his trade, will also be in the tournament, as will Sadiq Umar’s Real Sociedad and Chidera Ejuke’s Royal Antwerp, who also employs midfielder Alhassan Yusuf.

The 2023/24 UCL season will also be the last time that the tournament will have 32 participating teams. From the 2024/25 season (next season), there will be 36 teams. This will see the total number of matches increase from 125 to 189, with each team playing eight games instead of six at the group stages.

It will also be the first tournament that will not feature either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, the competition’s two leading men. Both players are now comfortable outside Europe as the clock winds down on their illustrious careers.

The full list of teams that will be participating in the Champions League and their pot classification for the UCL draw are as follows.

Pots ✅

Build your dream group 🧐#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/JHfdCl1uAe

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 31, 2023

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

The UCL fixtures after the UCL draws are as follows.

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

Time for UCL draw in Nigeria

The time for UCL draw in Nigeria in 5 PM. Nigerians can watch the draw online or on their TV sets.

UCL draw: Venue and how to watch in Nigeria

The UCL draw will be held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. To watch the game, Nigerians will have to get a DStv or a GOtv subscription along with the DStv or GOtv decoder to access the Supersport Africa channel.