[European/overseas football news]UEFA Champions League group stage pairings decided.
On the 25th, the UEFA Champions League (CL) group stage draw was held.
This season, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be held in winter (November to December), so the schedule will be irregular. The season opener will be held on September 6th and 7th.
Attention is group C which became “group of death”. Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Inter, three big clubs and Pilsen are in the same group. FW Robert Lewandowski, who moved from Bayern to Barcelona this summer, immediately decided to play once morest his old club.
Last season’s Europa League winners Makoto Hasebe and Daichi Kamata belong to Frankfurt, who are in Group D with Sporting, who joined Hidemasa Morita this summer. It is likely that we will see a Japanese confrontation.
And Celtic, which has four Japanese players including Kyogo Furuhashi, will be in the same group as Real Madrid, who are aiming for their second consecutive title.
The CL group stage pairings are as follows:
Group A
Ajax (Netherlands)
Liverpool (England)
Naples (Italy)
Rangers (Scotland)
Group B
Porto (Portugal)
Atletico Madrid (Spain)
Leverkusen (Germany)
Club Brugge (Belgium)
Group C
Bavaria (Germany)
Barcelona (Spain)
Intel (Italy)
Plzen (Czech Republic)
Group D
Frankfurt (Germany)
Tottenham (England)
Sporting (Portugal)
Marseille (France)
Group E
Milan (Italy)
Chelsea (England)
Salzburg (Austria)
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Group F
Real Madrid (Spain)
Leipzig (Germany)
Shakhtar (Ukraine)
Celtic (Scotland)
Group G
Manchester City (England)
Seville (Spain)
Dortmund (Germany)
Copenhagen (Denmark)
Group H
Paris Saint-Germain (France)
Juventus (Italy)
Benfica (Portugal)
Maccabi Haifa (Israel)