WITH Newcastle United’s qualification for the Champions League having been confirmed last night, thoughts are now turning to who the Magpies might face come the autumn.

How will next season’s Champions League work? When will Newcastle find out who they are facing? And who are the teams they could be lining up against next season?


IF NEWCASTLE FINISH FOURTH, WILL THEY FACE A QUALIFIER BEFORE THE GROUP STAGE?

No. Unlike in previous seasons, when the team finishing fourth in the Premier League entered the Champions League at the qualifying stage, the current allocation of teams for the group stage guarantees England four automatic slots.

As a result, it does not matter whether Newcastle finish in third or fourth position after the final round of Premier League matches on Sunday. Whatever happens, they are now guaranteed a place in the Champions League group stage.


WHEN DOES THE DRAW FOR THE GROUP STAGE TAKE PLACE?

The draw for the group stage of the Champions League will take place on August 31, after the final qualifying round has been completed. The 32 teams involved in the competition will be drawn into eight groups of four.


HAVE THE DATES FOR THE GROUP MATCHES BEEN SET?

Yes. The dates for the six matchdays in the group stage of next season’s competition have already been confirmed. They are:

Matchday one – September 19-20

Matchday two – October 3-4

Matchday three – October 24-25

Matchday four – November 7-8

Matchday five – November 28-29

Matchday six – December 12-13


WHO COULD NEWCASTLE FACE IN THE GROUP STAGE?

This is where things start to become complicated. Newcastle are one of 18 clubs to have currently secured one of the 26 automatic spots available in the group stage. The identity of the other eight clubs will be confirmed in the next few weeks once Europe’s domestic leagues reach their conclusion.

The final six spots, to take the final number of entrants up to 32, are determined by a series of qualifying rounds that begin in mid-June. The final qualifying play-off round takes place in late August, by which point the full list of qualifiers will be known.

At that stage, the final seedings for the draw will be confirmed. The 32 teams involved in the Champions League will be split into four pots of eight. Each group will contain one team from each pot.

The seedings are determined by a club’s finishing position – the champions of the top six nations, as determined by UEFA’s country coefficient, are guaranteed to be in pot one, along with this season’s Champions League and Europa League winners – as well as each club’s UEFA coefficient, which is a reflection of both a club’s European record over the last five seasons and the strength of the domestic league in which they are playing.

Given that Newcastle have not played any European football at all in the last five years, they are currently the lowest-ranked of all the clubs that have already qualified for next season’s competition and look certain to be placed in pot four.


SO, WHO ARE THE 18 CLUBS ALREADY GUARANTEED TO BE IN NEXT SEASON’S GROUP STAGE?

Along with Newcastle United, the guaranteed qualifiers for next season’s group stage are:

Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Napoli, Lazio, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig, Paris St Germain, Benfica, Porto, Feyenoord, RB Salzburg, Celtic, Red Star Belgrade.


AND WHO COULD CLAIM THE OTHER EIGHT AUTOMATIC SPOTS?

The remaining eight automatic spots will be allocated as follows:

Champions League winners (Inter Milan or place allocated to Ukrainian champions if Man City win)

Europa League winners (Sevilla or Roma)

Premier League third/fourth (Man Utd or Liverpool)

La Liga third/fourth (Real Sociedad or Villarreal)

Serie A third/fourth (Inter Milan, AC Milan, Atalanta or Roma)

Serie A third/fourth (Inter Milan, AC Milan, Atalanta or Roma)

Bundesliga fourth (Union Berlin or Freiburg)

Ligue 1 runners-up (Lens or Marseille)


WHO IS IN CONTENTION IN THE PLAY-OFFS

A whole host of teams could make it into the group stage via the play-offs, but at this stage, some of the leading lights already guaranteed a play-off place include: Rangers, Braga, AEK Athens, Sturm Graz, Dinamo Zagreb and Panathinaikos.


SO, HOW MIGHT THE FINAL SEEDINGS LOOK?

There is a fair bit of guess work going on here, but at this stage, this is how the final seedings for the group-stage draw could look:

Pot One: Manchester City, Sevilla, Barcelona, Napoli, Borussia Dortmund, Paris St Germain, Benfica, Feyenoord

Pot Two: Real Madrid, Manchester United, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Porto, RB Leipzig, Arsenal, Inter Milan

Pot Three: Lazio, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan, RB Salzburg, Lens, Marseille, PSV Eindhoven, Union Berlin

Pot Four: Newcastle United, Celtic, Real Sociedad, Genk, Young Boys, AEK Athens, Red Star Belgrade, Rangers   Â