As it happened: the Champions League group draw 2019-2020

Virgil Van Dijk wins the UEFA Player of the Year award!

The best defender of the last Champions League is also the best player of the year for UEFA. He beats Messi and Cristiano in their overall performance: second in the Premier League, runner-up in the Nations League and Champions League winner.

August 29, 2019

The UEFA Men’s Player of the Year goes to...

The UEFA Men’s Player of the Year is about to be announced, and the host has taken the opportunity to ask each player to talk about their experiences this season. Van Dijk looks a bit uncomfortable, and Messi shrugs when asked about the Champions League. Bit of an awkward affair now.

Lucy Bronze wins Women's player of the Year!

The Lionesses and Olympique de Lyon player wins the award after an amazing campaign both with her club and her national team.

Now onto the last awards of the evening...

The UEFA Men’s Player of the Year and UEFA Women’s Player of the Year to be announced!

GROUP DRAW IN FULL
Group A: PSG, Real Madrid, Club Brugge, Galatasaray
Group B: Bayern Munich, Tottenham, Olympiakos, Red Star Belgrade
Group C: Manchester City, Shakhtar, Dinamo Zagreb, Atalanta
Group D: Juventus, Atletico, Bayer Leverkusen, Lokomotiv Moscow
Group E: Liverpool, Napoli, Salzburg, Genk
Group F: Barcelona, Dortmund, Inter, Slavia Prague
Group G: Zenit, Benfica, Lyon, RB Leipzig
Group H: Chelsea, Ajax, Valencia, Lille

Draw completed!

Lille go into Group H alongside Chelsea, Ajax and Valencia. Genk go into Group E alongside Liverpool, Napoli and Salzburg. Red Star Belgrade are drawn in Group B alongside Bayern Munich, Tottenham and Olympiakos. Galatasaray go into Group A alongside PSG, Real Madrid and Club Brugge. And that's the draw completed!

The Slavia Prague president laughs it off... Disbelief or laughter?

Slavia Prague drawn in Group F with Barcelona, Dortmund and Inter.

Hard group for the Russians!

Lokomotiv Moscow goes into Group D alongside Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen.

Could be worse...

Leipzig are drawn into Group G alongside Zenit, Benfica and Lyon.

Finally, the Pot 4 draw is upon us!

Atalanta goes into Group C alongside Manchester City, Shakhtar and Dinamo.

Forward of the year goes to... Lionel Messi!

A pause in proceedings as Lionel Messi is named the UEFA forward of the season. That goal in Anfield must have had something to do with that. A hint for the Ballon D'Or, perhaps?

August 29, 2019

More group progressions...

The audience looks expectantly as the groups continue to be announced. We are starting to get a good look at what the Champions League draw will look like now...

Group A: Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Club Brugge

Group B: Bayern Munich, Tottenham, Olympiacos

Group C: Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb

Group D: Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen

Group E: Liverpool, Napoli, Salzburg

Group F: Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan

Group G: Zenit Saint Petersburg, Benfica, Lyon

Group H: Chelsea, Ajax, Valencia

Midfielder of the year goes to De Jong!

The young Barça player impressed everyone with his performance for Ajax last year, making it to the Champions League quarter-finals. Fresh talent for the future here.

Some retakes of last year's matches then... Juventus and Atletico, Liverpool and Napoli!

The groups, as it currently stands, look like this:

Group A: Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid

Group B: Bayern Munich, Tottenham

Group C: Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk

Group D: Juventus, Atletico Madrid

Group E: Liverpool, Napoli

Group F: Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund

Group G: Zenit Saint Petersburg, Benfica

Group H: Chelsea, Ajax

The draw continues... Bayern Munich is joined by Tottenham in group B!

The second part of the draw continues. Peter Cech and Wesley Sneijder are sorting out the groups team by team, letter by letter. We will bring you the complete list as soon as the ceremony continues.

Defender of the Year

The award for best defender in last season’s Champions League goes to... Virgil Van Dijk! Again, no surprises here.

August 29, 2019

And the draw begins!

The first part of the draw begins! The first teams of each group have been announced. As it currently stands, we have:

Group A: Paris Saint-Germain

Group B: Bayern Munich

Group C: Manchester City

Group D: Juventus

Group E: Liverpool

Group F: Barcelona

Group G: Zenit Saint Petersburg

Group H: Chelsea

Goalkeeper of the Year Award

The winner of the UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year is Liverpool star Alisson Becker. No surprises here! The Liverpool frontman was key to his team's success in the Champions League and the Premier League.

Grins all around!

The three nominees for player of the year... Like we said before, these guys should meet more often.

August 29, 2019

Group of death this year?

As Eric Cantona, President's Award recipient, speaks, let's go over what could be this year's group of death. Liverpool, Real Madrid, Inter and RB Leipzig are strong contenders for the group of death, but to be fair, teams seem to be stronger than ever and, as last year's experience taught us, anything could happen.

The Ceremony has started!

As the ceremony gets underway, here's a few more pictures of stars arriving. Van Dijk looking as cool as ever.

August 29, 2019

Awards Ceremony

During today’s proceedings, UEFA will also be announcing the winners of:

The UEFA Men’s Player of the Year

UEFA Women’s Player of the Year

Goalkeeper of the Year

Defender of the Year

Midfielder of the Year

Forward of the Year

The President’s Award - won this year by Eric Cantona

Liverpool are still very much one to fear this season...

Any team that ends up in Liverpool's group will undoubtedly struggle, but the current champions have definitely upped their game since last year.

August 29, 2019

The stars have started arriving!

The eternal rivals are both here... These two should meet more often.

August 29, 2019

Here's a little explanation as to how this works...

The top pot contains the two UEFA competition winners as well as the champions of the six highest-ranked nations. That means Liverpool and Chelsea are joined by Manchester City, Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Zenit St Petersburg. The remaining teams are then split across pots two to four by order of the club coefficient rankings. No team can be drawn against a club from their own league.

Before we go any further, first things first: the pots.

Pot one: Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Zenit St Petersburg

Pot two: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk, Tottenham, Ajax, Benfica

Pot three: Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, Salzburg, Olympiakos, Club Bruges, Valencia, Inter Milan, Dinamo Zagreb

Pot four: Lokomotiv Moscow, Genk, Galatasaray, RB Leipzig, Slavia Prague, Red Star Belgrade, Atalanta, Lille

Welcome to our Champions League draw coverage!

It's Champions League draw day and 32 teams will soon learn who they're going to be facing in the group stage. We'll be bringing you all the build-up and news as it happens from the draw, which is being held, as is tradition, at Monaco's Grimaldi Forum.