Barça regain their status as top seeds for 2023-24 Champions League

The 2022-23 La Liga title won by FC Barcelona on Sunday at the RCDE Stadium will allow the Catalan club to regain the status of one of the top seeds in the draw for the 2023-24 Champions League group stage. It is a privilege that will ensure they avoid meeting the champions of Italy (Napoli), England (likely to be Manchester City), France (PSG at the top of the table) or Germany (Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund). The Europa League champions will also not be FC Barcelona's opponents in the group stage.

In last season's group stage draw, Barça were put in Pot 2 along with Liverpool, Chelsea, Juventus, Atlético, Sevilla, Tottenham and Leipzig. As an unseeded team, Xavi Hernandez's side were drawn against Bayern Munich, as well as Inter (Pot 3) and Viktoria Plzen (Pot 4). In addition to the German champions, the Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt, Manchester City, Milan, PSG, Porto, Ajax and Real Madrid were in Pot 1.

The draw for the 2023-24 Champions League group stage will take place on 31 August. The first matchday will be played on 19 and 20 September; the second and third in October, on 3 and 4 and 24 and 25; the fourth and fifth in November, on 7 and 8 and 28 and 29; and the sixth and last in December, on 12 and 13.

Barcelona's first objective in the next edition of the Champions League will be to get out of the group stage, a goal they failed to achieve in the last two seasons. They fell in the 2021-22 season against Bayern Munich and Benfica (Xavi coached the last two games) and also missed out this season to Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.

Barça last played in the last 16 of the Champions League in 2020-21, with Ronald Koeman on the bench and eliminated by PSG. In 2019-20, Barça were knocked out of the competition in the quarter-finals by Bayern Munich.