UEFA confirm that champions of top 7 leagues will go into pot 1 for next season’s UCL draw

UEFA today announced major changes to the group stage Champions League draw.

Despite being called the Champions League, Champions of their respective league are not usually given any advantage or preference by UEFA.

That is until today, when UEFA confirmed that pot one of the group stage draw will feature the seven champions from the top 7 leagues as well as the holders of the competition from the season before.

If the winners of the Champions League also win their domestic league, then the champions of the eight best country (PSV Eindhoven) are included.

“For the purpose of the draw, the 32 clubs involved in the group stage are seeded into four groups of eight. The first group comprises the titleholder (top seed) and the domestic champions of the seven top-ranked associations in accordance with the access list (see Annex A). If the titleholder is one of the top seven associations’ domestic champions, the group is completed with the champion of the association ranked eight. The other three groups are composed in accordance with the club coefficient rankings established at the beginning of the season”.

This new ruling may well leave Arsenal fans outraged, having enjoyed the benefits of being in pot one without winning the Premier League.

It also means one of Barcelona or Real Madrid are likely to be in pot two whilst Russian league leaders Zenit St. Petersburg will be in pot one.