Champions League 2024/2025: what draw for French clubs?

The draw for the 2024/2025 Champions League will take place this Thursday evening at 6 p.m. and the four French clubs in the running will now know what sauce they will be eaten with. French champion and already qualified, Paris Saint-Germain was joined like Monaco (2nd) and Brest (3rd) by Lille (4th). The Dogues have just qualified in pain against Slavia Prague and thus bring the French contingent to four teams, a record for Ligue 1.

French champion Paris Saint-Germain is in the first pot along with Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and FC Barcelona. Lille is in pot 3 while AS Monaco and Stade Brestois are in pot 4. Note that each team will face two teams per pot.

Heavy stuff to expect

There are a few specificities, first of all, it is impossible for two teams from the same country to face each other. Lille will not play Brest and PSG will not face Monaco. Then, each team will not be able to face more than two teams from the same country. Thus, the main threats will be Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in pot 1, Bayer Leverkusen, Atlético de Madrid and Arsenal in pot 2 as well as Feyenoord, Sporting CP and PSV Eindhoven in pot 3. Aston Villa is the scarecrow of pot 4.

More lenient draws can take place with Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig in Pot 1 as well as FC Bruges and Shakhtar Donetsk in Pot 2. In Pot 3, Young Boys Bern, Celtic Glasgow, Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade. Finally in Pot 4, Sturm Graz and Slovan Bratislava are good options. Revelation tomorrow evening for the French clubs.

The 36 qualified

Hat 1: Manchester City (England), Bayern Munich (Germany), Real Madrid (Spain), Paris Saint-Germain (France)Liverpool (England), Inter Milan (Italy), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), RB Leipzig (Germany) and FC Barcelona (Spain)

Hat 2: Bayer Leverkusen (Germany), Atlético de Madrid (Spain), Atalanta (Italy), Juventus (Italy), Benfica (Portugal), Arsenal (England), FC Bruges (Belgium), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) and AC Milan (Italy)

Hat 3: Feyenoord (Netherlands), Sporting CP (Portugal), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Red Bull Salzburg (Austria), Young Boys Bern (Switzerland), Celtic Glasgow (Scotland), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Lille (France) and Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)

Hat 4: AS Monaco (France)Sparta Prague (Czech Republic), Aston Villa (England), Bologna (Italy), Girona (Spain), Stuttgart (Germany), Sturm Graz (Austria), Stade Brestois 29 (France) and Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)