Barcelona will be in Pot 1 for the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League group stage draw after it was confirmed that AS Roma would not be in the competition.
Atalanta needed to finish fifth in Serie A for a place in the Champions League to move past Roma in sixth, but Atalanta's 3-0 win at home to Torino on Sunday secured a place in the top four. Roma will occupy a place in the Europa League.
Had Atalanta finished fifth, they would have qualified for the Champions League as Europa League champions, and the extra place for Italy gained by their clubs' performance in Europe this season moved to sixth place. Instead, that extra place will go to the team that finished fifth, Bologna.
Barcelona would also have been overtaken by Bayer Leverkusen for a place in Pot 1 had the Bundesliga team avoided defeat in the Europa League final, but lost 3-0 to Atalanta.
As Atalanta will not occupy the champion's place, Benfica is promoted directly to the empty place in the group stage as the club with the best coefficient of those in the classification. If Real Madrid wins the Champions League, Shakhtar Donetsk will not have to qualify either.
Under the new format starting next season, only the Champions League winners are guaranteed a place in Pot 1, with all other places sorted by coefficient. However, with each team facing two clubs from the four pots to create eight matches, the pot rankings now have limited relevance: teams in Pot 1 are not prevented from playing each other.
– Explanation of the new format of the Champions League.
The Champions League will expand from 32 to 36 teams, all placed in a classification table. Eight games will be played, four at home and four away. Teams from the same country must be kept separate, although leagues with more than 4 teams may have to play another team from the same association if there is a tie in the draw.
Since this new system offers so many alternatives, most of the drawing will be done by a computer. A team will be selected from Pot 1 in the traditional style and then the selection process for that club's opponents will be carried out automatically.
The top eight go directly to the round of 16, places 8 to 24 play in a two-legged knockout round and those classified 25 to 36 are eliminated. There is no longer a dropdown menu for the Europa League.
The draw for the group stage will take place on Thursday, August 29.
CAN 1
city of manchester
Bayern Munich
real Madrid
Paris Saint Germain
Liverpool
International
Borussia Dortmund
RB Leipzig
Barcelona
JAR 2
Bayer Leverkusen
Atletico Madrid
Juventus
Atalanta
Benfica
Arsenal
Club Brugge (*subject to winning the Belgian title on Sunday)
Rangers (must pass qualification)
Shakhtar Donetsk (must qualify)
Pot 4 is the likely destination for Celtic, AS Monaco, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona and Brest.
