Champions League 2020/21 group stage draw as it happened
UEFA Champions League group stage draw
So, one hour and 35 minutes later, the time has come to bring the curtain down on this live coverage. Stay with AS English for all the latest reaction and comment following the draw and the implication for all sides involved.
Many thanks for your company this evening and we'll see you again mid December.
A reminder of when the action kicks off.... just a few weeks away before match-day 1 is here
2020/21 group stage match dates
Matchday 1: 20/21 October
Matchday 2: 27/28 October
Matchday 3: 3/4 November
Matchday 4: 24/25 November
Matchday 5: 1/2 December
Matchday 6: 8/9 December
With Lewandowski scooping the 'Player of the Year' award that brings an end to the transmission of the event from Geneva.
Next UEFA award goes to Harder with the new Chelsea player scooping the Women's Player of the Season prize.
The final award of the night goes to Lewandowski as the Bayern striker wins the Men's Player of the Season award.
The next draw date will be December 14th when UEFA will conduct the Round of 16 draw. Those games will be staged in February 2021 and let's hope fans can attend games which will show that we're progressing with the pandemic.
As mentioned earlier, UEFA plan to announce all kick-off times for each match-day on Friday evening.
Hansi Flick scoops the men's award after an incredible season for Bayern.
Women's coach of the year award goes to Lyon's Jean-Luc Vasseur
That concludes the Champions League 2020/21 group stage draw. As always plenty of mouth watering ties with Groups B and G catching the eye.
Borussia M'Gladbach head to group B with R.Madrid, Shakhtar and Inter with Ferencvaros head to group G with Juve, Barça & D.Kiev.
Next out of the bowl is Basaksehir with the Istanbul side heading to group H with PSG, United and RB Leipzig. Next side is
Rennes and the French outfit will play in group E with Sevilla. Chelsea and Krasnodar. Debutantes Midtjylland will play in group D Liverpool, Ajax and Atalanta.
So, Pot four to complete the draw and it's Marseille out first and the French side are off to group C with Porto, Man City and Olympiacos. Lokomotive Moscow head to group A with Bayern, Atleti and Salzburg. Brugge next and they head to group F with Zenit, BVB and Lazio.
Rennes are a dangerous side and currently top the French league and have a major threat in Camavinga.
Next up it's Pot 4: Rennes, Ferencvaros, Basaksehir, B. Monchengladbach, Marseilles, Brugge, Midtjylland and Lokomotive Moscow.
Polish striker Lewandowski the worthy winner of the 'Forward of the Season'
Striker of the season is out next award with another Bayern player scooping the prize as Robert Lewandowski is joined by striker Pernille Harder who moved to chelsea from Wolfsburg recently.
Next out is Dynamo Kiev who head to group G with Juve and Barça. Salzburg head to group A with Bayern and Atleti. Inter Milan are out and head to group B and join Real Madrid and Shakhtar. Finally Lazio head to group F with BVB and Zenit.
Next out is Atalanta and 'La Dea' head to group D with Ajax & Liverpool. Next out is Olympiakos and the Greek side are off to group C joining Porto and Man City.
First out tonight from the third pot is Krasnodar and the Russian side head to group E with Sevilla and Chelsea.
Next out is RB Leipzig who head to group H with Man United & PSG.
Time for Pot 3- Inter, Lazio, Atalanta, Leipzig, Dinamo Kiev, Krasnodar, Salzburg and Olympiacos.
De Bruyne admitting the Micheal Owen was an idol as the Belgian was developing as a player...
Group G..... Barça and Juve already a standout..... next award is UEFA Midfielder of the Season with another Lyon award as Dzsenifer Marozsán secures the women's prize. Kevin de Bruyne from Manchester City bags the men's award.
Shakhtar from Donetsk will play in group B joining R.Madrid. Next up is Borussia Dortmund with the Bundesliga side heading to group F with Zenit. Man. United will be place in group H with City off to group C joining Porto.
FC Barcelona are next out and the Catalan giants will play in group G, joining Juventus...Ajax are the next team and the Dutch outfit will play in group D with Liverpool.
This is where we start to see the groups taking form.... first up is At. Madrid and they head to group A and join Bayern. Next out is Chelsea and they head to group E joining Sevilla.
Next up we'll have the assignation of Pot 2 clubs: These are the eight sides in the second tier - FC Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Manchester City, Manchester United, Dortmund, Shakhtar, Ajax and Chelsea.
Clear danger posed with both Manchester giants, Barça and Atleti with Luis Suarez set to offer a threat for teams.
Another award for Bayern as Joshua Kimmich bags the 'Best Defender of the year award'
My word Giorgio Marchetti is a veritable UEFA enciclopedia as he reels off a series of data and stats of each side.
Next up is the UEFA award for the 'Defender of the Season' with Wendie Renard from Lyon winning the women's award.
FC Porto head to group C ... group D for Liverpool.... it's group E for Sevilla with Zenit bound for group F . Group
G will feature Juventus with PSG the top seed in group H
A reminder of the Pot 1 teams: Real Madrid, Sevilla, Bayern, PSG, Liverpool, Juventus, Zenit and FC Porto.
Holders FC Bayern are the first name out and go to group A, Real Madrid are in group B.
The full match calendar will be confirmed by UEFA on Friday evening.
We'll possibly see the distribution of Pot 1 (top seeds) before another brief hiatus for more UEFA awards.
Ok, we're moving closer to the draw as UEFA Deputy General Secretary Giorgio Marchetti talks us through the draw process. He welcomes the new sides to the competition and passes over to colleague Michael Heselschwerdt who talks about the rules surrounding the draw that we reflected on earlier.
Neuer playing down the fact that he's the cleverest player in the Bayern squad after winning a television version of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' !!!
The countdown to the draw is on ... It'll be a long ride this evening folks with draw fans possibly frustrated with the series of UEFA awards. We'll make sure we can fill the gaps with 'our traditional cutting edge ...insight' .... Next award is for the Best Women's & Men's Goalkeeper with the Sarah Bouhaddi (Lyon) and Bayern's Manuel Neuer winning the men's award.
Drogba will be on-hand to assist with the draw and will be joined by Florent Malouda. The French star a former team-mate of Drogba's with the Stamford Bridge side.
Drogba becomes the first non European player to win the UEFA 'President's Award'.
Drogba a hero for so many, an icon of the African game and loved by Chelsea fans. The Ivorian reflects on the CFC Champions League win over Bayern Munich in the Bavarian capital.
Before the draw, we'll have the first of many UEFA awards tonight. Head of the organisation Aleksander Čeferin will present the 'Presidents Award' which will go to Didier Drogba.
Bayern Munich last years UCL holders along with Europa League holders Sevilla FC are in the top seeded Pot 1 with the inclusion of the Andalusian side seeing both FC Barcelona and At. Madrid drop to Pot 2. No-one from Pot 1 will want to face the Spanish giants.
UEFA offer a video looking back at the past season, a season overshadowed by the Covid-19 pandemic which has impacted on every part of our world with the game we love no exception.
We're live in Geneva with presenters Pedro Pinto and Reshmin Chowdhury our hosts tonight.
New season Champions League season means new Champions League matchball. Earlier today, UEFA & Adidas unveiled the ball that will be used in the group stage:
Istanbul's Attaturk Stadium will host the 2020/21 Champions League final with the venue being ruled out of holding last season's final as intended due to the Covid-a9 pandemic. The final will be staged at the 79,000 capacity venue on Saturday 29 May (2021).
The Juventus graphics department have been busy today creating this 'Connect 4' style feature ahead of the draw.
Empty stadiums have been something we've all had to get used to since football made a comeback after grinding to a halt throughout the world (apart from Belarus) in March. UEFA have confirmed that all group stage games for both the Champions and Europa League will be staged behind closed doors and a massive fingers crossed the situation relating to the pandemic is so that we can get fans back in stadiums come 2021.
We took a look earlier at the possible worst case scenarios for some clubs. Premier League champions Liverpool could find themselves drawn against Barcelona or Atlético Madrid, who beat them in the quarter-finals of last season’s competition. Reigning champions Bayern Munich are in pot 1 and could once again find themselves facing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, their 1999 Champions League final nightmare, of Manchester United in pot 2.
A couple of pointers to mention regarding rules ahead of the draw: at this stage of the competition, no sides from the same league can be paired in the same group and for political reasons no side from Russia and Ukraine can be paired in the same group.
Tonight's draw will be interspersed with UEFA handing out a series of awards as mentioned earlier. If I recall correctly from the 19/20 group stage draw, these awards will be handed out during the course of the draw and I'd anticipate the ceremony to last anywhere between 60/90 minutes. UEFA really have pulled their socks up in terms of snappy, dynamic draw procedures in recent years.
UEFA will confirm exact kick-off time for each game at some point on Friday after liaising with rights holders regarding broadcast dates.
When will these group stage games be played I hear you ask....
2020/21 group stage match dates
Matchday 1: 20/21 October
Matchday 2: 27/28 October
Matchday 3: 3/4 November
Matchday 4: 24/25 November
Matchday 5: 1/2 December
Matchday 6: 8/9 December
The 32 participants
The four pots
Pot 1: Real Madrid, Sevilla, Bayern, PSG, Liverpool, Juventus, Zenit and FC Porto.
Pot 2: Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Manchester City, Manchester United, Dortmund, Shakhtar, Ajax and Chelsea.
Pot 3: Inter, Lazio, Atalanta, Leipzig, Dinamo Kiev, Krasnodar, Salzburg and Olympiacos.
Pot 4: Rennes, Ferencvaros, Basaksehir, B. Monchengladbach, Marseilles, Brugge, Midtjylland and Lokomotive Moscow.
As part of the ceremony UEFA will alo present the following awards during the evening:
UEFA Men's Player of the Year
UEFA Women's Player of the Year
UEFA Men's Coach of the Year
UEFA Women's Coach of the YearReal Madrid
Goalkeeper of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League season
Defender of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League season
Midfielder of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League season
Forward of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League season
Goalkeeper of the 2019/20 UEFA Women's Champions League season
Defender of the 2019/20 UEFA Women's Champions League season
Midfielder of the 2019/20 UEFA Women's Champions League season
Forward of the 2019/20 UEFA Women's Champions League season
Proceedings in Geneva this evening get underway at 17:00 and we'll be building up to the event with analysis, critique and some good old fashioned speculation.
Hello and a very warm welcome to our live coverage of the 2020/21 season Champions League group stage draw.