When is the 2023/24 Champions League group stage draw and who can Manchester United face?

Manchester United return to Champions League action this coming season after Erik ten Hag led the club to a third-place finish in the Premier League during his first season in charge at Old Trafford.

The Reds were in the Europa League last term and reached the quarter-finals before being knocked out by eventual-winners Sevilla.

Ten Hag’s side will be looking to improve upon their return to Europe’s most elite competition. Mason Mount, who won the competition with Chelsea in 2021, became the first signing at the club this summer, with André Onana following suit.

Read More: Erik ten Hag’s first moments at Manchester United prove why he will succeed

Rasmus Højlund will join them in the coming days as a first-team striker – the Danish international is set to be announced on Saturday for a fee of £60 million plus a further £12m in add-ons.

United will first need to manoeuvre through the group stages of the competition before thinking about reaching the latter stages. Their last final appearance came in 2011 when they lost against Barcelona.

With all European top-flight seasons complete, United now know the potential opposition they can face in the opening games of the competition next term.

When is the 2023/24 Champions League group stage draw?

The Champions League 2023/24 group stage draw will take place on Thursday, August 31, 2023, one day after the preliminary round of the competition’s qualifying stages is scheduled to finish.

Who can Manchester United face in the 2023/24 Champions League group stages

There are a total of 32 teams involved in the group stages of the competition, with 26 of those having qualified already. The remaining six clubs will earn their position in the group stages following wins in the qualifying rounds of the competition.

Teams are placed into four different pots, with pot 1 containing the title holders, the Europa League winners and the champions of the top six national leagues based on UEFA country coefficients. The remaining three pots are populated according to a team’s UEFA club coefficient.

UEFA’s seedings for the competition’s group stages have already been announced, with 23 of the 26 teams being placed in pots 1-4. Newcastle, Real Sociedad and Celtic will need to wait until the remaining six teams have qualified before knowing which pot they will be placed in.

Manchester United have been placed in pot 2, meaning that they will not face any teams from the same pot. That includes Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Porto and Arsenal.

The Reds will face up against three other teams in the group stage, one from each of the remaining pots.

Manchester City are in pot 1 after winning the competition for the first time in their history last season. United will not be able to face their city rivals in the group stage, however, due to competition rules. The rest of the pot includes Sevilla, Barcelona, Napoli, Bayern Munich, PSG, Benfica and Feyenoord, all of who could be placed in a group with The Reds.

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Pot 3 has five confirmed teams that could end up in United’s group. Shakhtar Donetsk, RB Salzburg, AC Milan, Lazio and Red Star Belgrade make up that pot.

Meanwhile, pot 4 has just two confirmed teams, with the majority of the teams from qualifying expected to enter this pot. As it stands, Union Berlin and RC Lens are the only teams in the pot.

A table of how things stand currently, as provided by GOAL, can be viewed below: