Arsenal will be part of the Champions League group stage draw on Thursday afternoon, and we now know all the teams the Gunners could face.
On Wednesday night, the final Champions League qualifiers were completed and the pots for the group stage draw were finalised.
Arsenal will be in Pot 2, along with Real Madrid, Manchester United, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, and FC Porto. As a result, the Gunners can’t face any of those teams in the group stage.
Instead, Arsenal will draw one team from Pot 1, one team from Pot 3, and one team from Pot 4.
The other key restriction is that Arsenal can’t face any of the other English teams. So Pot 1 side Manchester City and Pot 4 side Newcastle United are both off-limits.
With all that in mind, let’s have a look at the teams Arsenal can draw from each pot.
Pot 1
- Sevilla
- Barcelona
- Napoli
- Bayern Munich
- Paris Saint-Germain
- Benfica
- Feyenoord
Pot 3
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- RB Salzburg
- AC Milan
- Braga
- PSV Eindhoven
- Lazio
- Red Star Belgrade
- FC Copenhagen
Pot 4
- Young Boys
- Real Sociedad
- Galatasaray
- Celtic
- Union Berlin
- Royal Antwerp
- RC Lens
The draw will take place at 17:00 BST on Thursday, 31st August, streamed on UEFA.tv.
Champions League fixture dates
- Matchday 1: 19/20th September, 2023
- Matchday 2: 3/4th October, 2023
- Matchday 3: 24/25th October, 2023
- Matchday 4: 7/8th November, 2023
- Matchday 5: 28/29th November, 2023
- Matchday 6: 12/13th December, 2023
The exact fixtures will be confirmed after the draw, and there’s usually a bit of a delay while the various clubs sort out any potential logistical issues.
One bonus for Arsenal this year is that no other London clubs have qualified for the Champions League, so there won’t be any fixture clashes in the capital.