Celtic are preparing to begin their quest to reach the Champions League group stage for the third time in four years.
The Scottish champions will again have to navigate four qualifying rounds to do so, however.
Neil Lennon’s side start their adventure on July 10/11 and could face the likes of Romanians Cluj and Northern Irish side Linfield.
Thankfully for Celtic, they are again seeded in each of the qualifiers and should they progress past the opening round, clubs such as Maccabi Tel-Aviv and familiar foes Rosenborg then lie in wait.
The third qualifying round has potential opponents such as APOEL Nicosia, Qarabag and Red Star Belgrade.
Then if successful in that round, Lennon’s side could take on the likes of Astana, Young Boys and BATE Borisov in the playoff.
It has now been confirmed Celtic will be in Pot Three should they reach the £30million-plus group stage and therefore avoid clubs such as Benfica, Dinamo Kiev, Valencia and Inter Milan.
The likes of Lokomotiv Moscow, Galatasaray and RB Leipzig – who Celtic faced in the Europa League in the season just passed – are in Pot Four and would represent formidable lowest-seeded opponents.
Real Madrid are only in Pot 2 – despite winning the Champions League four out of the past five years.
Here are the pots in full
Pot 1
Tottenham/Liverpool
Chelsea
FC Barcelona
Manchester City
Juventus
Bayern Munich
Paris Saint-Germain
Zenit St Petersburg
Pot 2
Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid
FC Porto
Borussia Dortmund
Napoli
Shakhtar Donetsk
Tottenham/Liverpool
Ajax
Pot 3
Benfica
Dinamo Kiev
Lyon
Bayer Leverkusen
FC Salzburg
Valencia
Inter Milan
Celtic
Pot 4
FC Copenhagen
Dinamo Zagreb
Lokomotiv Moscow
Racing Genk
Galatasaray
RB Leipzig
Atalanta
Lille OSC
