The draw for the group stage of the 2023-24 Champions League takes place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco at 5pm BST on Thursday.
Thirty-two teams will hope for a favourable draw, including the four Premier League representatives for this season - Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle United.
Man City go into this season's competition as the defending champions having swept all before them en route to the treble last term, and they will once again be among the heavy favourites to lift the trophy at Wembley on June 1.
However, a host of other huge names - from Real Madrid and Barcelona to Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain - will also fancy their chances of landing the biggest prize in European club football next summer.
Here, Sports Mole tells you all you need to know as the road to Wembley begins in earnest.
WHICH TEAMS ARE IN WHICH POT?
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Pot 1: Manchester City, Sevilla, Barcelona, Napoli, Bayern Munich, PSG, Benfica, Feyenoord
Pot 2: Real Madrid, Manchester United, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Porto, Arsenal
Pot 3: Shakhtar Donetsk, Red Bull Salzburg, AC Milan, Lazio, Red Star Belgrade, Braga, PSV Eindhoven, FC Copenhagen
Pot 4: Newcastle United, Union Berlin, Lens, Real Sociedad, Celtic, Galatasaray, Young Boys, Antwerp
WHAT ARE THE RULES OF THE DRAW?
Each group will consist of one team drawn from each pot, making eight groups of four in total.
Clubs from the same country cannot be drawn in the same group - so Manchester City and Manchester United could not be paired together, and nor could Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Pot one contains the holders, the 2022-23 Europa League winners, and six domestic champions, with Eredivisie winners Feyenoord being promoted to pot one due to Man City fulfilling two of the qualifying stipulations.
Pots two, three and four are decided based on UEFA's club coefficient rankings.
BEST/WORST CASE SCENARIOS
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While the very nature of the Champions League means that there are no easy games, there are certainly more favourable routes through to the knockout stages of the competition, and a team's fate could ultimately come down to the luck of the draw.
The heavy hitters in pot one include Man City, Bayern Munich and Barcelona, as well as a PSG team looking to reinvent themselves in an attempt to finally get their hands on this most coveted trophy.
Napoli will also be one to avoid, but the likes of Feyenoord, Benfica and Sevilla will be seen as relatively kind choices from pot one.
Pot two looks arguably even more fearsome and is sure to force some mouth-watering group-stage fixtures, with five of the eight teams in that pot having lifted the trophy before.
Real Madrid are always among the favourites having won the competition a staggering 14 times, while Inter Milan were beaten finalists last season and will hope to go deep in the competition again.
Premier League giants Manchester United and Arsenal will also hope to make the most of their respective returns to the biggest stage, and Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Porto and RB Leipzig all have plenty of European experience and pedigree too.
The standout team to avoid in pot three will be AC Milan, a side that reached the semi-finals last season before being beaten by city rivals Inter Milan.
Fellow Serie A side Lazio will also be one to avoid, while Braga and PSV Eindhoven are also not the easiest assignments from pot three, despite the latter being forced to come through the qualifying rounds.
Pot four contains Newcastle who, despite this being their first Champions League campaign for two decades, will be the team most want to avoid from the final pool.
The likes of Union Berlin, Antwerp and Lens have limited Champions League experience in recent times, although Berlin in particular impressed for much of last season in the Bundesliga and could be one to watch having scored four goals in all three of their outings so far this season.
POSSIBLE GROUP OF DEATH
1. Manchester City
2. Real Madrid
3. AC Milan
4. Union Berlin
KEY CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DATES THIS SEASON
GROUP STAGE
Matchday 1: 19–20 September, 2023
Matchday 2: 3–4 October, 2023
Matchday 3: 24–25 October, 2023
Matchday 4: 7–8 November, 2023
Matchday 5: 28–29 November ,2023
Matchday 6: 12–13 December, 2023
KNOCKOUT ROUNDS
Round of 16: 13/14/20/21 February and 5/6/12/13 March, 2024
Quarter-finals: 9/10 and 16/17 April, 2024
Semi-finals: 30 April/1 May and 7/8 May, 2024
Final: 1 June, 2024 (Wembley Stadium)
DRAW DATES
Round of 16: 18 December, 2023
Quarter-finals & semi-finals: 15 March, 2024
Barney Corkhill
