Manchester City will discover our opponents for the group stage of this season’s UEFA Champions League this week.

The Blues will be competing in Europe’s premier competition for the ninth successive season, the longest current run of any English side.

City, who became the first side in a decade to retain the Premier League title last season, will be placed in Pot 1 alongside Liverpool and Chelsea.

Here is your guide to how the draw will work:

When?

Thursday 29 August at 5pm BST (6pm CET). 

Where?

Grimaldi Forum, Monaco.

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How can I watch?

The draw ceremony will be streamed live via UEFA.com.

Procedure

The group stage draw separates the 32 teams into eight groups of four.

The 26 teams given direct entry to the group stage will be joined by the six winners of the play-off ties played on 20/21 and 27/28 August.

The teams will be split into four seeding pots. Pot 1 consists of the holders, the UEFA Europa League winners and the champions of the six highest-ranked nations. Pots 2 to 4 are determined by the club coefficient rankings.

No team can play a club from their own association, with the exact draw procedure to be confirmed before the ceremony.

The draw also establishes the groups for the UEFA Champions League path of the UEFA Youth League.

Pot 1:

Liverpool (ENG, holders)
Chelsea (ENG, UEFA Europa League winners)
Barcelona (ESP)
Manchester City (ENG)
Juventus (ITA)
Bayern (GER)
Paris (FRA)
Zenit (RUS)

Other automatic entrants, including coefficients:

146.000 Real Madrid (ESP)
127.000 Atlético Madrid (ESP)
85.000 Borussia Dortmund (GER)
80.000 Napoli (ITA)
80.000 Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
78.000 Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
68.000 Benfica (POR)
61.500 Lyon (FRA)
61.000 Bayer Leverkusen (GER)
54.500 Salzburg (AUT)
37.000 Valencia (ESP)
31.000 Internazionale Milano (ITA)
28.500 Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS)
25.000 Genk (BEL)
22.500 Galatasaray (TUR)
22.000 RB Leipzig (GER)
14.945 Atalanta (ITA)
11.699 LOSC Lille (FRA)
Six play-off winners TBC

Fight 'til the end: Part One

Match dates:

Matchday one: 17/18 September
Matchday two: 1/2 October
Matchday three: 22/23 October
Matchday four: 5/6 November
Matchday five: 26/27 November
Matchday six: 10/11 December

Round of 16 draw: 16 December

Round of 16, first leg: 18/19 and 25/26 February
Round of 16, second leg: 10/11 and 17/18 March

Quarter-final and semi-final draw: 20 March

Quarter finals, first leg: 7/8 April
Quarter-finals, second leg: 14/15 April: quarter-finals, second leg

Semi-finals, first leg: 28/29 April
Semi-finals, second leg: 5/6 May

Final: Saturday 30 May (Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadı, Istanbul)