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| This picture shows the UEFA Champions League logo prior to the draw for the 2021/2022 European football tournament in Istanbul on August 26, 2021. |
Title holders Real
Madrid and the rest of Europe’s elite clubs will be able to start plotting
their route to Champions League glory when the draw for this season’s group
stage is made in Istanbul on Thursday (today) from 1600 GMT.
All going to plan, the
journey will end back in the Turkish city on June 10 next year for the final at
the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, the same venue where Liverpool defeated AC Milan
on penalties in 2005.
Istanbul was supposed
to host the final in 2020 and again in 2021, but on each occasion UEFA moved
the game to Portugal due to pandemic-related restrictions.
Another late change was
required last season, with Saint-Petersburg being stripped of the final after
Russia invaded Ukraine, and Paris instead stepping in to host Madrid’s 1-0
victory over Liverpool.
The Spanish giants have
now been crowned kings of Europe 14 times, twice as many times as the
competition’s next most successful club, AC Milan, and they started this season
by defeating Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt in Helsinki to lift the
UEFA Super Cup.
“The joy and
satisfaction you get after such wins tends to stick around, making you feel
like no one should ever take your place. And that’s a pretty strong motivation
to keep winning,” coach Carlo Ancelotti told UEFA.com in a recent interview
when asked about the chances of a repeat triumph for his side.
Their success is likely
to be recognised elsewhere on Thursday (today), with goalkeeper Thibaut
Courtois and Karim Benzema nominated alongside Manchester City’s Kevin De
Bruyne for the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year prize for last season.
Ancelotti is nominated
alongside City’s Pep Guardiola and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp for the coaching
gong.
As for the draw itself,
Real are in Pot One along with the champions of Europe’s other leading leagues
in the shape of City, Bayern Munich, Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and
Ajax, as well as Europa League winners Frankfurt.
Liverpool will be in
Pot Two, meaning there is a possibility that they could get a rematch with Real.
Chelsea, winners in 2021, and Tottenham Hotspur are the other English
representatives.
Meanwhile, Celtic will
be in Pot Four as they return to the Champions League proper for the first time
since 2017.
Russian clubs are
banned because of the ongoing war, but Ukraine — where a new domestic season
kicked off this week — will be represented by Shakhtar Donetsk.
Dynamo Kyiv, who faced
Benfica in the play-offs, were hoping to join them but lost 5-0 on aggregate to
the two-time winners.
The final places will
be decided in this midweek’s play-off round ties, with Bodo/Glimt aiming to
become the first Norwegian team to feature in the group stage in 15 years.
What awaits all clubs
involved is an intense two months of competition, with a World Cup in November and
December forcing UEFA to organise all six matchdays in the space of nine weeks
starting on September 6.
There will be an
international break in that period too, and the demands on the players will be
greater than ever, but the financial rewards will make it worthwhile for the
clubs.
A UEFA circular sent to
member associations in July detailed the prize money up for grabs this season,
and a team going all the way to victory in the final will rake in around 90
million euros ($90 million).
On top of that will be
an added share from the television market pool of each country as well as
amounts depending on a team’s ranking based on performances over the last 10
years.
That ranges from 1.137
million euros for the lowest-ranked side taking part — who will come from
among the winners of this week’s play-off ties — to over 36 million euros for
Madrid, who boast the best coefficient.
As a consequence, the
rich will carry on getting richer, and the number of potential Champions League
winners may continue to narrow as a result.
The draw for the Europa
League — featuring the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Roma — takes
place on Friday, with the Europa Conference League draw just after.
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