When is the Champions League draw and when does the group stage start?

The Premier League season only got underway over the weekend but attention is already turning to when the Champions League action will begin.

There is still qualifying to be done, with the final play-off round before the league stage starting on Tuesday night.

Rangers and Celtic are in action in the two-legged affairs, taking on Club Brugge and Kazakh side Kairat respectively.

The Scottish teams will be hoping to progress and join the five Premier League clubs and the giants of European football in the 36-side league phase.

The Champions League changed dramatically last season as they old group stages were scrapped and every team was chucked in a giant league phase.

Whether this was an improvement or not is up for discussion, but it will be the same again this season as the teams battle to ideally finish in the top eight, but at least the top 24.

Here’s everything you need to know about the forthcoming Champions League action.

When is the Champions League draw?

The draw will be held on Thursday August 28 in Monaco at 6pm.

How does the league phase work?

There are 36 teams in the league phase and each team plays eight games.

The teams are split into four pots based on their UEFA coefficient, with a team drawn from pot one and then the eight opponents rustled up by the automated software.

These eight opponents will be made up of two from each pot, with a home and away match against a team from each of the four pots.

Teams will not play another from their same country and can’t face more than two from one other country.

The top eight in the league phase go straight into the last 16 of the competition, with the next 16 clubs going into a play-off to join them.

How to watch the Champions League draw

UEFA.com will stream the draw.

When do the Champions League fixtures begin?

The fixture list and dates will be confirmed ‘no later than Saturday August 30,’ according to UEFA.

The league phase games will begin on September 16 and run all the way until January 28.

The knockout phase play-offs are in February and then the knockout phase proper begins in March.

Qualified teams

Pot 1: PSG, Real Madrid, Man City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona

Pot 2: Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus, Eintracht Frankfurt

Pot 2/3: Tottenham

Pot 3: PSV, Ajax, Napoli, Sporting, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Marseille

Pot 3/4: Monaco

Pot 4: Galatasaray, Union Saint-Gilloise, Athletic Bilbao, Newcastle

Who are favourites for the Champions League?

Defending champions PSG go into the tournament as favourites, with the Premier League winners Liverpool behind them.

Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid follow in the odds, with Arsenal, Manchester City and Bayern Munich also considered contenders.

When are the Europa League and Conference League draws?

The Europa League and Conference League draws are held at the same time on Friday August 29 at 1pm.