Champions League draw explained as Arsenal move one step closer to discovering group stage fate
In little over a month's time, Arsenal will discover their opponents in the 2023/24 Champions League group phase. But there are still plenty of steps before the draw can take place.
The Gunners, who are back at Europe's top table for the first time in six years, have qualified for the group phase alongside holders Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Sevilla, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Real Sociedad, Napoli, Lazio, Inter, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Union Berlin, Paris Saint-Germain, Lens, Benfica, Porto, Feyenoord, Shakhtar Donetsk, Red Bull Salzburg, Red Star Belgrade and Celtic.
As a result, just six more spots are up for grabs and the field will become clearer following the Second qualifying round which begins this evening (July 25) and concludes next week. A total of 24 teams have been divided into two paths; Champions Path and League Path. The former is made up of 20 teams; The 15 winners of first qualifying round and five teams that have entered at this round which are Galatasaray — fresh off signing Wilfried Zaha on a free transfer — Molde, Copenhagen, Dinamo Zagreb and Aris Limassol.
And the ten fixtures for this section are as follows: Zalgiris vs Galatasaray, HJK Helsinki vs Molde FK, Dinamo Zagreb vs Astana, HSK Zrinjski vs Slovan Bratislava, Breidablik vs Copenhagen, Sheriff vs Maccabi Haifa, Aris Limassol vs BATE Borisov, Rakow vs Qarabag, Ludogorets vs Olimpija Ljubljana and KI Klaksvik vs Hacken.
Meanwhile, the League Path is made up of four teams as Dnipro-1 face Panathinaikos and Servette entertain Genk. As explained by UEFA, the winners of the two-legged ties will advance to the third qualifying round of their respective path while the losing sides
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