With this year’s iteration of the UEFA Champions League having been concluded, Barcelona now look forward to having their own say in the competition in the next version.
Having qualified by not only finishing within the top 4 positions in the league but with the Catalans having won La Liga title, they will thus be categorized as Pot 1 contestants for the upcoming 2023/2024 UEFA Champions League campaign.
As guided by SPORT as well as the official placements of the UCL, teams are divided into various pots. These pot placements are determined by achievements across the previous season for the qualified teams.
By becoming champions of their respective countries, those particular winners end up being put in Pot 1 alongside the previous winners of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
As champions of Spain, FC Barcelona will be in Pot 1 this time around. Alongside them will be Bayern Munich (Germany), Manchester City (England/UCL winners), Sevilla (Europa winners), Paris Saint Germain (France), SL Benfica (Portugal), Napoli (Italy), Feyenoord (Netherlands).
Moving forward to Pot 2, the teams that are present in this specific pot, apart from the Spanish outfits, are all potential opponents of FC Barcelona. The teams included are Real Madrid (Spain), Manchester United (England), Inter (Italy), Dortmund (Germany), Atlético de Madrid (Spain), Leipzig (Germany), Porto (Portugal), and Arsenal (England).
The teams in Pot 3 and Pot 4 are yet to be completely finalized but the ones that have thus far been concluded are Shakhtar, Salzburg, Milan, Lazio, and Red Star as part of the third, while Union Berlin and Lens will be in the fourth, and one of each pot will be placed alongside FC Barcelona.
Real Sociedad, Celtic, and Newcastle are yet to find their final positioning according to UEFA’s placements and then be concluded in either of the pots.
Others such as the likes of Galatasaray, Genk, Dinamo Zagreb, Copenhagen, Panathinaikos, AEK Athens, Rangers, Marseille, Sparta Prague, Braga and PSV are also yet to find their finishing places alongside other remaining sides.
The first group stage match of the 2023/2024 UEFA Champions League is expected to take place on the 19th of September.
