The UEFA Champions League is Europe’s most prestigious competition. It brings together the best teams from European Leagues in a battle for European supremacy. Moreover, football betting fans also get more opportunities to test their prediction skills as they bet on the best teams in Europe. As the Champions League kicks off, betting fans will flock to sites such as bettors.co.za to look for favourable clubs to bet on. In this sense, the playgroup stage draw will determine which clubs will face off in the opening stages of the competition. This draw could possibly shape how the entire tournament turns out.
Chelsea Are the Defending Champions
Thomas Tuchel led Chelsea to a Champions League victory when they beat Manchester City in the finals last season. Chelsea now have two Champions League titles to their name. At the beginning of the tournament, no one would have put their money on Chelsea to win it.
However, such is the unpredictable nature of the European tournament. This season, the other European heavyweights will be putting their best foot forward to win this year’s edition.
Please keep reading this piece to learn more about this season’s Champions League group stage draw.
Teams involved in the group stage draw
- Pot 1 – Chelsea, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, Sporting CP, Lille, Inter, Bayern Munich and Lille.
- Pot 2 – Real Madrid, Juventus, Barcelona, PSG, Manchester United, Liverpool, Sevilla and Borussia Dortmund.
- Pot 3 – Porto, RB Leipzig, Besiktas, Ajax, Dynamo Kyiv, Atalanta and Zenit Saint Petersburg.
- Pot 4 – Club Brugge, Wolfsburg, Marseille, Lugorets Razgard or Malmo, Young Boys and AC Milan.
The draw will involve 32 teams, with 26 being automatic qualifiers and six from the qualification path. The qualified teams will be put into four pots. As per the UEFA country coefficients, pot 1 comprises titleholders, Europa League Champions, and Champions of the top six national leagues.
When Does The Group Stage Start?
The 2021/22 Champions League group stage matches will kick off on 14th and 15th September. The group stage will comprise six gameweeks that will end on December 7th and 8th.
Who Are The Favorites?
At the moment, the odds favour either Manchester City or PSG to win this season’s Champions League. The two teams have been obsessively chasing this title for years. The club owners have invested massively in the squads to boost their chances of winning.
PSG improved their odds further by signing Lionel Messi from Barcelona, Donnarumma from AC Milan, and Sergio Ramos from Real Madrid. They also got Mauricio Pochettino, who took Tottenham to the Champions League finals. Is this enough to help them win this elusive championship?
On the other hand, Manchester City remains every bookmakers’ favourite to win this season’s Champions League. However, despite having the best chances, their recent failure opens the door for other contenders to win it. They have bolstered their squad by adding Jack Grealish to their ranks.
The other teams with an outside chance of winning the competition include Bayern Minich, Liverpool, Chelsea, Juventus, Real Madrid, and Manchester United.
