When is the Champions League group stage draw? Date, time and TV channel

Europe’s premier club competition is back.

There have been qualifying matches played already, with Celtic losing out to CFR Cluj in the third qualifying round, but the group stage games don't start until September.

Liverpool claimed their sixth European title in last season’s final against Tottenham , but will face stiff competition from the likes of Man City, PSG and Barcelona .

Spurs and Chelsea will be the other two English sides in the draw, after Arsenal and Man Utd missed out on the top four.

The Gunners also lost in the Europa League final to Chelsea, which would have been an alternative route to a Champions League place this season.

Europe's elite competition is soon returning (X00102)

When is the draw?

The draw will take place in Monaco, on Thursday August 29 at 5.00pm BST.

Will the draw be on TV?

BT Sport will be showing the draw, with the exact channel yet to be confirmed.

The draw will also be streamed on the UEFA website.

What are the seedings for the draw?

Pot 1:

Liverpool

Chelsea

Barcelona

Bayern Munich

Juventus

Man City

PSG

Zenit Saint Petersburg

Liverpool are in pot 1 for the draw following their win last year (REUTERS)

Pot 2 (unconfirmed)

Real Madrid

Atletico Madrid

Borussia Dortmund

Napoli

Shakhtar Donetsk

Tottenham

Ajax

Benfica

Can Zinedine Zidane win his fourth Champions League as Madrid manager? (Getty Images)

Pot 3 (unconfirmed)

Lyon

Bayer Leverkusen

Salzburg

Olympiacos

Club Brugge

Valencia

Inter Milan

Dinamo Zagreb

Frank Lampard won the Champions League as a Chelsea player and will now try to do the same as manager (PA Wire)

Pot 4 (unconfirmed)

Lokomotiv Moscow

Young Boys

Genk

Galatasaray

RB Leipzig

Slavia Prague

Atalanta

Lille

Pep Guardiola is searching for his first Champions League title with Manchester City (Getty)

What are the important dates?

First group stage games: September 17/18

Last 16 draw: December 16

Round of 16 first leg: February 18/19 and 25/26

Round of 16 second leg: March 10/11 and 17/18

Quarter-final and semi-final draw: March 20

Quarter-final first leg: April 7/8

Quarter-final second leg: April 14/15

Semi-final first leg: April 28/29

Semi-final second leg: May 5/6

Final: May 30

Next year's final will take place in the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul (Press Association)

Key Info

Chelsea and Liverpool are in Pot 1, despite not winning their domestic league, as they won the Europa League and Champions League respectively.

Teams from the same nation in different pots cannot be drawn into the same group.

Pots 2,3 and 4 are decided by the clubs’ UEFA coefficient, which ranks their European performance over the last five years.

The preliminary qualifying rounds for the 2019/20 competition began on June 25, just 24 days after the 2018/19 final.

Betting odds from ThePools.com

Man City 15/4

Barcelona 5/1

Liverpool 7/1

Real Madrid 17/2

Juventus 9/1