Newcastle United, Man Utd & Arsenal find out three potential Champions League group stage opponents

Newcastle United are set to find out their Champions League group stage opponents this week along with Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City. While The Magpies can’t be drawn in the same group as their Premier League rivals, their pot four standing means they are in for a potentially difficult draw.

29 teams have now qualified for the Champions League group stages with six teams fighting for the final three spots.

On Tuesday, Young Boys beat Maccabi Haifa 3-0 on aggregate while Galatasaray beat Molde 5-3 on aggregate and Braga beat Panathinaikos 3-1 over two legs to confirm their places in the group stage draw that will take place from 5pm BST on Thursday, August 31.

Braga will be in pot three of the draw while Galatasaray will be pot four with Newcastle. Young Boys’ will be in either pot three or pot four depending on the result of Copenhagen v Raków Częstochowa.

Copenhagen are leading the Polish champions 1-0 heading into the second leg while Royal Antwerp lead AEK Athens 1-0. PSV Eindhoven and Rangers head into their second leg level following a 2-2 draw at Ibrox.

Copenhagen and PSV or Rangers would enter pot three should they qualify while the other three would be in pot four.

The final three places will be confirmed following the second legs of the final three play-off matches on Wednesday evening.

The Champions League group stage will start on Tuesday, September 20 and end on Wednesday, December 13.

Here are the key dates to look out for:

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

Here are the Champions League pots for the group stage draw

Pot one

Manchester City

Sevilla

Barcelona

Napoli

Bayern Munich

Paris Saint-Germain

Benfica

Feyenoord

Pot two

Real Madrid

Manchester United

Inter Milan

Borussia Dortmund

Atletico Madrid

RB Leipzig

Porto

Arsenal

Pot three

Shakhtar Donetsk

Red Bull Salzburg

AC Milan

Braga

Lazio

Red Star Belgrade

Rangers or PSV Eindhoven

Copenhagen or Young Boys

Pot four

Raków Częstochowa or Young Boys

Real Sociedad

Galatasaray

Celtic

Newcastle United

Union Berlin

Lens

AEK Athens or Royal Antwerp