When is the Champions League draw? Man United and City pots, draw time and potential opponents

European football's elite competition will soon be returning as the Champions League heads towards the group stages.

This week, the second leg of the play-offs will take place to decide which teams will compete in the Champions League this season. Fortunately, Manchester City and Manchester United have already secured their place in this year's competition.

City qualified for the Champions League on two counts thanks to being the reigning holders and winners of the Premier League. Meanwhile, Erik ten Hag's side finished third in the English top flight which secured their automatic qualification.

Ahead of this week's draw, MEN Sport has taken a look at everything you need to know about the Champions League.

ALSO READ: How five Premier League teams could qualify for next season's Champions League

The draw for the Champions League group stages takes place on Thursday, August 31. It will begin at roughly 5pm UK time.

TNT Sports will broadcast the draw live and streamed it for free on YouTube last season. MEN Sport will also be providing a live blog for the draw.

Alongside the Manchester clubs, Arsenal and Newcastle United will also be involved from England in the group stages. The other teams who have qualified include:

Spain: Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Sevilla

Germany: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Union Berlin

Italy: Inter, Lazio, AC Milan, Napoli

France: Lens, PSG

Portugal: Benfica, Porto

Netherlands: Feyenoord

Austria: RB Salzburg

Scotland: Celtic

Serbia: Red Star Belgrade

Ukraine: Shakhtar Donetsk

These teams will also be joined by the winners of the play-off rounds this week. The fixtures include:

Young Boys (0) - (0) Maccabi Haifa

Galatasaray (3) - (2) Molde

Panath