There were jubilant scenes at St James’ Park as Newcastle United confirmed their return to the Champions League after a one season absence from the competition.
Finishing in 5th place in this season’s Premier League, it’s the cherry on top of one of the greatest seasons in the club’s entire history.
And before fans have a chance to look up hotels and book their flights, we now have a good idea of who we may potentially be drawn against in the 36-team league phase of Europe’s premier competition.
Projected pots and confirmed clubs
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As things stand, 29 of the 36 clubs set to take place in next season’s UEFA Champions League have already been confirmed:
A big away day confirmed
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Last time we were in the Champions League, we had the unfortunate pleasure of being drawn in the ‘Group of Death’ against Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan.
And whilst the Italian giants won’t be in this year’s competition, there’s a very good chance we return to the Parc des Princes or Signal Iduna Park.
Because we can’t be drawn against a fellow English team in the league phase, and this leaves us with only six teams from Pot 1 who we can play against.
Alongside PSG and Dortmund, we could potentially face Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan or Bayern Munich either at home or away. All of which would be amongst the biggest games we’ve had post takeover.
Who else joins Newcastle in Pot 4?
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The Champions League pot system is determined based off previous European performance over the past few campaigns.
Of course, because we’ve only qualified for the Champions League once in the last few years, we sit relatively close to the bottom of the rankings in Pot 4 – meaning that we’ll play two teams each from Pots 1-3, and then a fellow team in Pot 4.
This includes some strong European stalwarts and difficult away days like Athletic Bilbao, Red Star Belgrade and Galatasaray.
However, whilst we won’t be drawn against another English club, there’s nothing in place to stop us drawing Celtic – who we of course play in a pre-season friendly at Celtic Park in the summer.
What about the rest of the Premier League teams?
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Speaking of the other English teams, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea occupy three of the spots in Pot 1, and will each be looking to finish high in next season’s league table.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal just miss out and will have to settle for Pot 2, meanwhile the Europa League winners Spurs are projected to be in Pot 3.