CHAMPIONS LEAGUE POTS FOR THE GROUP STAGE CONFIRMED FOR THE DRAW ON THURSDAY

The stage is set for the Champions League group stage draw at 18:00 at the Haliç Congress Center in Istanbul. The group stage pots have been revealed, with Sevilla in the second pot. Julen Lopetegui's team could come up against potentially the Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1 or Primeira Liga champions as well as the reigning Champions League winners. However, they will not be drawn against any of the Spanish teams at this stage, including Villarreal, who is also ranked as a top seed after winning the Europa League. 

The team will also avoid the seven other clubs in the same pot. Two of them are Spanish teams, Real Madrid and Barcelona, with the rest also being top teams as well, such as Juventus, Manchester United, PSG, Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund. As a result, Sevilla can be drawn against any of the 16 remaining teams in the last two pots, providing that they do not play in the same league as the team in Pot 1. This would be the case for Porto or Benfica if they were to be drawn against Sporting, or if RB Leipzig or Wolfsburg would come up against Bayern, as would be the same for Atalanta or AC Milan if they were to face Inter Milan. 

In terms of teams making their debut in the tournament, the only new team to have qualified for the group stage draw is FC Sheriff Tiraspol, making it the first Moldovan team to qualify for this stage in the competition. After two failed attempts in 2009/10 and 2010/11, it was third time luck for them this year to make it to this stage after beating Dinamo Zagreb. The others have featured in one way or the other in recent years. As for the dates for this year's tournament, the full calendar will be announced next Saturday, but the first match day will take place on September 15 and 16, while the second will be played on September 29 and 30. These are the four pots:

Pot 1: Chelsea FC (ENG), Villarreal CF (ESP), Atlético Madrid (SPA), Manchester City (ENG), Bayern Munich (GER), Inter Milan (ITA), Lille OSC (FRA) and Sporting (POR). 

Pot 2: Real Madrid (ESP), FC Barcelona (ESP), Juventus FC (ITA), Manchester United (ENG), Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Liverpool FC (ENG), Sevilla FC (ESP) and Borussia Dortmund (GER).

Pot 3: FC Porto (POR), AFC Ajax (NED), Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR), RB Leipzig (GER), FC Salzburg (AUT), SL Benfica (POR), Atalanta BC (ITA) and FC Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS).

Pot 4: Besiktas JK (TUR), Dinamo Kiev (UKR), Club Brugge (BEL), BSC Young Boys (SWI), AC Milan (ITA), Malmö FF (SWE), VfL Wolfsburg (GER) and Sheriff Tiraspol (MOL).