Messi, Ronaldo, Van Dijk to contend for men’s player of the year, as UEFA gives full details for next season

Messi, Ronaldo, Van Dijk to contend for men’s player of the year, as UEFA gives full details for next season

Edwin Eriye

The UEFA Champions’ League on Wednesday has released the group stage draws for the eminent season, which will take place in Monaco on Thursday, August 29 at 6pm, Central African time.

The event which will be streamed live on UEFA.com, will take place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

The contending teams from Spain in the draw-stage include: Barcelona; Real Madrid; Atlético Madrid; Valencia. England: Liverpool; Chelsea; Manchester City; Tottenham Hotspur. Italy: Juventus; Napoli; Internazionale Milano; Atalanta. Germany: Bayern München; Borussia Dortmund; Bayer Leverkusen; RB Leipzig. France: PSG; Lyon; LOSC Lille. Russia: Zen it; Lokomotiv Moskva. Portugal: Benfica; UKR; Shakhtar Donetsk. Belgium: Genk. Turkey: Galatasaray; Austria; Salzburg. Plus the six winning teams from the play-offs.

UEFA further explained that Only Pot 1 is known in its entirety; the other pots will be confirmed once the final six teams have qualified via the play-offs. Pot 1consists of: Liverpool (holders); Chelsea (UEFA Europa League winners); Barcelona; Manchester City; Juventus; Bayern München; Paris Saint-Germain; Zenit

“Pot 1 consists of the holders, the UEFA Europa League winners and the champions of the six highest-ranked nations. Pots 2 to 4 are determined by the club coefficient rankings.

“The 26 teams given direct entry to the group stage under the competition system introduced in 2018/19 will be joined by the six winners of the play-off ties.

“Clubs’ coefficients will determined either by the sum of all points won in the previous five years or by the association coefficient over the same period – whichever is higher (under a new system introduced for 2018/19 onwards), according to UEFA.com.

“No team can play a club from their own association and, based on decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee, clubs from Russia and Ukraine must not be drawn in the same group. In the case of associations with two or more representatives, clubs will be paired in order to split their matches between Tuesday and Wednesday.

If a paired club is drawn, for example, in Groups A, B, C or D, the other paired club – once drawn – will automatically be assigned to one of Groups E, F, G or H” UEFA said.

Lionel Messi, Christaino Ronaldo and Van Dijk are the three UEFA Men’s Player of the Year nomiees.

The UEFA Men’s Player of the Year; UEFA Women’s Player of the Year; Goalkeeper of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League season; Defender of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League season; Midfielder of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League season; Forward of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League season winners will be announced during the draw ceremony.

According to UEFA Matches for this season are scheduled thus:17/18 September: group stage, match-day one; 1/2 October: group stage, match-day two; 22/23 October: group stage, match-day three; 5/6 November: group stage, match-day four; 26/27 November: group stage, match-day five; 10/11 December: group stage, match-day six; 16 December: round of 16 draw; 18/19/25/26 February: round of 16, first leg; 10/11/17/18 March: round of 16, second leg; 20 March: quarter-final & semi-final draw; 7/8 April: quarter-finals, first leg; 14/15 April: quarter-finals, second leg; 28/29 April: semi-finals, first leg; 5/6 May: semi-finals, second leg; and Saturday 30 May: final – Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadı, Istanbul.