Champions League seeds confirmed for 2019-20

Posted Monday, June 03, 2019 by ESPN

Liverpool are confirmed as the final seeds for next season's Champions League group-stage draw after lifting the trophy in Madrid on Saturday night.

Jurgen Klopp's side won the biggest prize in European football with a 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at the Wanda Metropolitano.

The winners of the Champions League automatically slot into Pot 1, which is reserved for the holders of the two European competitions and the champions of the six strongest domestic leagues.

That means Liverpool will join Europa League holders Chelsea among the eight seeds, along with Barcelona (La Liga), Manchester City (Premier League), Juventus (Serie A), Bayern Munich (Bundesliga), Paris Saint-Germain (Ligue 1), Zenit Saint-Petersburg (Russian Premier).

The Premier League will therefore have three teams in Pot 1.

The rest of the teams are seeded based on UEFA's five-year coefficient score for performance in European competition, with the strongest teams in Pot 2 and the weakest in Pot 4. One team from each pot will be drawn into the eight Champions League groups in the draw ceremony on Aug. 29.

Tottenham were in Pot 3 for last season's group-stage draw and had to navigate their way through a tough group that also contained Barca, Inter Milan and PSV Eindhoven. They have a greater chance of a favourable draw this season from Pot 2.

Ajax, if they come through qualifying, will benefit from Chelsea winning the Europa League by taking the spare place in Pot 2.

The teams in Pot 1 are now confirmed, while provisional pots can be drawn up for the others (though the teams in bold are guaranteed to be in that pot) based on the highest-ranked clubs progressing through qualifying.

POT 1: Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St Petersburg

POT 2 (provisional): Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, FC Porto*, Tottenham Hotspur, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk, Ajax*

POT 3 (provisional): Benfica, Dynamo Kiev*, Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, FC Salzburg, Valencia, Inter Milan, Celtic*

POT 4 (provisional): FC Copenhagen*, Dinamo Zagreb*, Lokomotiv Moscow, Genk, Galatasaray, RB Leipzig, Atalanta, Lille

*denotes must go through qualifying