Champions League draw 2015 preview: Group stage set with new, silly seeding procedure

The UEFA Champions League group stage draw is one of the biggest events on the soccer calendar each year and could determine the fate (and realistic goals) for Europe’s top clubs.

The likes of Bayern Munich and Barcelona will expect to top their group no matter how brutal their draw is, but most teams are crossing their fingers that they don’t get thrown into one of the hardest groups. Some smaller teams will have to settle for setting their sights on third place and Europa League qualification.

Eight groups of four teams will be drawn, with each group getting one team from each pot. As usual, teams from the same country can’t draw each other in the group stage, though we’d love to see a Barcelona-Real Madrid group of death someday. The teams that finish top two in their group will make the knockout stage, while the third place team drops into Europa League and the last place team is out of Europe altogether.

Because UEFA’s coefficient and seeding process wasn’t weird (and unfair) enough for the last few years, they’ve decided to spice things up by changing the draw completely. The defending champions of the top seven leagues, plus the Champions League winners are in Pot 1. This means that Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Zenit St. Petersburg have moved up one tier, while PSV Eindhoven has moved up two.

The draw ceremonies get underway just after 11:30 a.m. ET, 5:30 p.m. local time in Switzerland, though it’s likely to be quite a while before they do the actual draw. If you’re looking for a stream, you can find it for free at UEFA.com.

If you’re a long-time viewer of the Champions League, you have seen 31 of these teams before. The only newcomer is Astana, the champions of Kazakhstan, who have qualified for the group stage for the first time. They upset Maribor of Slovenia in the second qualifying round, beat HJK of Finland in the third, then pulled off a big upset over APOEL of Cyprus in the playoffs.

Barcelona
Manchester City
AS Roma
Wolfsburg

That this can happen is absolutely absurd. And the best part? It could have happened under the old rules too!

PSV Eindhoven
FC Porto
Dynamo Kiev
Astana

This nonsense actually could not have happened under the old rules.

Spain are so far ahead in the league coefficients that it’s unfathomable they lose their fourth Champions League place in the next five years, while Germany are looking pretty solid thanks to Bayern Munich’s regular runs. But England, once thought untouchable, is getting run down by Italy.

The good news for the Premier League is that Manchester United won their playoff, while Lazio lost theirs. The PL has two more teams in Champions League than Serie A, giving them a good opportunity to extend their lead. But if Chelsea gets drawn with one of the Madrid sides while England’s Pot 2 teams get tough draws and Serie A’s sides get off easy, England could suddenly find themselves in a bit of trouble.