September 30 (BBC) – Bayern Munich won the Champions League last season while Sevilla claimed the Europa League – but there is little time to rest on their successes.
Teams across the continent will discover their European fate when the Champions League draw takes place on Thursday (16:00 BST) and the Europa League draw on Friday (12:00 BST).
Here is everything you need to know.
Champions League
How does the draw work?
Teams will be split into four pots, with pot one containing the holders, the Europa League winners and champions of the six highest-ranked nations.
Pots two, three and four are determined by Uefa’s club coefficient rankings.
There are 26 teams who gained direct entry to the group stage and they will be joined by the six winners of the play-off ties.
No team can be drawn against another from their own association, meaning the four English sides Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea will be kept apart.
Any changes to be aware of?
Last season’s final took place on 23 August which means the group stages start later than usual. However, the knockout ties scheduled for March, April and May remain unchanged, with the final taking place on 29 May at Istanbul’s Ataturk Stadium.
Matches will take place on a home and away basis but it remains to be seen whether fans will be allowed to attend.
What is the British interest?
Liverpool are in pot one after winning the Premier League last season, while runners-up Manchester City, third-placed Manchester United and Chelsea who finished fourth are all in pot two.
Scottish champions Celtic missed out on a place in the competition after suffering a shock defeat against Ferencvaros in the second qualifying round.
What are the pots?
Pot one: Bayern Munich, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Juventus, Paris St-Germain, Zenit St Petersburg, Porto.
Pot two: Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Ajax.
Pots three or four: RB Leipzig, Inter Milan, Lazio, Atalanta, Lokomotiv Moscow, Marseille, Club Brugge, Borussia Monchengladbach, Istanbul Basaksehir, Rennes, Dynamo Kiev, Ferencvaros, Olympiakos.
*Three more teams from the play-offs will be added to this group before the pots are split in two
When are the match days?
Matchday one: 20/21 October
Matchday two: 27/28 October
Matchday three: 3/4 November
Matchday four: 24/25 November
Matchday five: 1/2 December
Matchday six: 8/9 December
Europa League
How does the draw work?
The 48 teams will be split into four pots – determined by their club coefficient rankings – to form 12 groups.
In some cases, where associations have two or more teams involved in the draw, they may be paired so that they play with different kick-off times for the benefit of TV audiences.
Once again, no team can be draw against another from their own association, so English sides Leicester City and Arsenal will avoid facing each other.
Who will be in the draw?
The 18 automatic qualifiers – Villarreal, Real Sociedad, Leicester, Arsenal, Napoli, Roma, Bayer Leverkusen, Hoffenheim, Lille, Nice, Braga, Feyenoord, Wolfsburg, CSKA Moscow, Royal Antwerp, Zorya Luhansk, Sivasspor, Sparta Prague – along with Benfica, AZ Alkmaar, and Rapid Vienna who were eliminated from the Champions League third qualifying round.
They will be joined by 21 winners from the play-off round and six teams who are eliminated from the Champions League play-off
What is the British interest?
Leicester were beaten to a top-four place on final day of the Premier League season to finish fifth and end up in the Europa League. Mikel Arteta steered Arsenal to victory in the FA Cup final over Chelsea to claim a spot in the competition.
North London rivals Tottenham meet Maccabi Haifa at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the play-off round on Thursday for a spot in the draw.
Two Scottish Premiership sides are also in third qualifying round action on Thursday; Celtic are away against Bosnian side FK Sarajevo while Rangers host Turkish giants Galatasaray.
When are the match days?
Matchday one: 22 October
Matchday two: 29 October
Matchday three: 5 November
Matchday four: 26 November
Matchday five: 3 December
Matchday six: 10 December
