One thing is certain and that is the note with Bayer 04 Leverkusen written on it will be in pot three – together with seven other clubs. There are four pots in total containing all the 32 participants. Pot 1 contains the holders, the Europa League winners plus the champions from the six leagues with the highest coefficients. Pots 2 to 4 are determined according to the club coefficient rankings (based on the clubs' European results from the past five years).
Pot 1
Liverpool (holders, England), Chelsea (Europa League winners, England), Barcelona (Spain), Manchester City (England), Juventus (Italy), Bayern Munich (Germany), Paris St. Germain (France), Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia).
Pot 2
Real Madrid (Spain), Atlético Madrid (Spain), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Napoli (Italy), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Tottenham Hotspur (England), Benfica (Portugal), Ajax (Netherlands).
Pot 3
Olympique Lyon (France), Bayer 04, FC Salzburg (Austria), Valencia (Spain), Inter Milan (Italy), Olympiakos (Greece), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Club Brugge (Belgium).
Pot 4
Galatasaray (Turkey), RB Leipzig (Germany), Atalanta (Italy), OSC Lille (France), KRC Genk (Belgium), Red Star Belgrade (Serbia), Lokomotive Moscow (Russia), Slavia Prague (Czech Republic).
There are eight groups of four comprising one team from each of the four pots. The teams in Pot 1 automatically head the groups. No team can play another club from the same Association. Beyond that, the UEFA executive committee has decided there will be no games between clubs from Russia and Ukraine during the group stages.
If an association has several representatives then the relevant clubs are allocated in pairs for the fixtures to be played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. For example, if a club in such a pair is drawn in Groups A, B, C or D then the other club from this pair will be automatically allocated to Group E, F, G or H as soon as they are drawn. The draw also applies to the UEFA Youth League that involves the Bayer 04 U19s.
The draw will be streamed live by UEFA and broadcast from 17.30 CET on Sky Sport News HD.
The group stage begins on 17th/18th September and ends on 10/11 December. A few days later, on 16 December, the draw will be held for the Round of 16 to be played between 18 February and 18 March 2020. The final on 30 May 2020 will be played at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.
Matchday 1: 17/18 September
Matchday 2: 1/2 October
Matchday 3: 22/23 October
Matchday 4: 5/6 November
Matchday 5: 26/27 November
Matchday 6: 10/11 December
The starting date for the sale of tickets for individual matches is not yet set. Anyone who definitely wants to be at the Werkself home games in the group stage can already secure a package for all three fixtures at the BayArena. And at a special price giving 10% discount on the cost of individual match tickets. The package will be available after the draw as well. Season card holders with the BundesligaPLUS option will have the matches automatically loaded to the season cards at a discount rate of 20%. Further ticket information to follow.
The United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) is celebrated worldwide on 3 December. Together with Bayer AG, Bayer 04 is once again setting an example for diversity and inclusion by lighting up the BayArena in purple in the evening.
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For the second time in four days, Bayer 04 face Borussia Dortmund this Tuesday evening, 2 December (kick-off: 21:00 CET) - this time in the round of 16 of the DFB Pokal, with more than 7,000 fans supporting the Werkself at Signal Iduna Park. After the recent 2-1 defeat to BVB in the league, several cup stats provide hope of revenge for the Black and Reds. There are several reasons why Bayer 04 recommends getting to the round of 16 clash early, in which VAR will be in use, unlike in the previous rounds. Read on for further information on tonight’s game in our matchday news.
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Just three days on from the Bundesliga meeting in Leverkusen, Bayer 04 now visit Borussia Dortmund in the DFB Pokal on Tuesday (21:00 CET). Ahead of the game at the Signal Iduna Park, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about how to approach this second encounter in 72 hours and a number of developments within the squad.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 12 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
