How the 2016-17 Champions League will look...

How the 2016-17 Champions League will look...

With Real Madrid's win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final in Milan, the European season, which began last July, came to an end. 

That means it's little more than a month until next season's Champions League gets underway, with the final to be played at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium. 

22 PLACES CONFIRMED 

As of today, 22 European teams have their place guaranteed in the group stages. They are: 

Spain: FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico, Sevilla

England: Leicester City, Arsenal, Tottenham

Germany: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen

France: PSG, Lyon

Italy: Juventus, Napoli

Portugal: Benfica, Sporting

Russia: CSKA Moscow

Ukraine: Dynamo Kiev

Holland: PSV

Switzerland: Basel

Belgium: Club Brugge

Turkey: Besiktas 

FIVE PLACES FOR CHAMPIONS 

The qualifying rounds for next season begin in July with the 10 champions of the leagues with the lowest UEFA co-efficient (Wales, Malta, Estonia, Andorra, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Armenia, San Marino, Latvia and Kosovo). 

After that, in the second qualifying round, the five winners will be joined by 29 more teams. They will be the champions of leagues in countries such as Austria, Scotland and Cyprus. 

The 17 winners of those ties will then be joined in the third qualifying round by Olympiacos, Viktoria Plzen and Astra Giurgiu, with the 10 winners of those games then progressing to the Champions Route Play-off round, from which five teams will progress to the group stage. 

FIVE PLACES FOR NON-CHAMPIONS 

Meanwhile, there will be five places for non-champions in the group stages, too. Ten teams will play against each other in the third qualifying round: Shakhtar Donetsk, Ajax, Anderlecht, Fenerbahce, Sparta Prague, Steaua Bucharest, Monaco, Young Boys, Rostov and Panathinaikos. 

The five winners will progress to the League Route Play-off round, where they will be joined by Manchester City, Porto, Villarreal, Borussia Monchengladbach and Roma. The winners of those five two-legged ties will then proceed to the group stages. 

SEEDS 

With 22 teams already qualified, and with 10 more places up for grabs, a picture is beginning to be painted of how the four pots will be divided up for next season's Champions League. 

In Pot One will be the seven league champions of the seven best leagues in Europe, plus the current holders of the competition, Real Madrid. The rest of the groups will be decided based on co-efficients. Here's how the draw could look if the teams with the best co-efficients fill the remaining 10 places:

 

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