The Blues will be looking to defend the European crown we claimed by defeating Manchester City in last season’s final, and underlined with another victory over Villarreal in the UEFA Super Cup two weeks ago, and our first opponents of the 2021/22 campaign will be determined later today.

The draw is scheduled to begin at 5pm UK time in the new Istanbul venue, where it has been moved for this year from the regular location at UEFA’s Swiss headquarters after the city missed out on hosting last season’s final.

With the qualifying play-offs for this season’s Champions League concluding last night, all 32 teams participating in this season’s competition and their respective seedings have now been confirmed. You can find out which ones Chelsea are likely to face below.

How does the draw work?

The 32 qualified teams have been split into four different pots based on their seeding. As the Champions League holders, Chelsea are one of the top seeds in Pot 1, alongside last season’s Europa League winners Villarreal and the reigning domestic champions from the six nations ranked highest by UEFA.

Pots 2, 3 and 4 are seeded based on individual teams’ standings within the UEFA club coefficient standing, with Pot 2 the one to watch out for, holding the top-ranked sides outside of the six national and two European title holders.

In addition to avoiding all the other teams in Pot 1, UEFA rules separating clubs from the same country prior to the quarter-finals mean Chelsea cannot be drawn against any English sides, and also cannot have more than one team from any individual nation in our four-team group, regardless of seedings.

How are the seedings decided?

UEFA coefficients are basically rankings used for seeding teams in club and international competitions. Clubs earn points towards their coefficient based on how well they perform in the Champions League, Europa League and, from this season, the UEFA Conference League. For example, in the Champions League, clubs are awarded four points each for reaching the group stage and last 16, as well as two points for a win and one for a draw in the knockout stages.

Points accumulated over the last five seasons are added together to provide a club’s coefficient, although if their total is lower than the average number of points earned by teams from their nation in the previous season, they will be seeded using the latter instead. That is usually only required for teams who have not been regular participants in European competition in recent years.

Although it won’t be used for this season’s seeding due to our status as Champions League holders, Chelsea’s current coefficient is 98 points, putting us in joint-11th place in the rankings, alongside Sevilla. That is significantly lowered by our absence from European competition in 2017/18, so is likely to improve dramatically next year when that season is taken out of consideration. England has the highest national average of 17.585, but that will not be a factor in the Champions League draw, as Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool all have coefficients of over 100.

Who are the other top-ranked teams in Pot 1?

Chelsea are regarded as the top seeds as the Champions League holders, meaning we are in Pot 1 and cannot face any of the seven other teams in that category. As a result, there will be no second meeting with Europa League winners and our defeated Super Cup opponents Villarreal.

It also rules out the possibility of us facing the reigning champions from any of the six nations with the highest average coefficients last season – England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France and Portugal.

So, there will be no early return to Inter Milan for new signing Romelu Lukaku or repeat of the 2012 final against Bayern Munich. It also means we won’t play Lille, who we beat twice in the 2019/20 group stage and have the lowest coefficient of any team in the competition, despite winning Ligue 1 last season.

Pot 1: Atletico Madrid (Spain), Bayern Munich (Germany), Chelsea (England), Inter Milan (Italy), Lille (France), Manchester City (England), Sporting Lisbon (Portugal), Villarreal (Spain)

Who can we face from Pot 2?

With Liverpool and Manchester United both in Pot 2, we are left with only six possible opponents from the group with the highest coefficients. However, Pot 2 is still likely to provide our toughest opposition, even more so than usual given some surprise results in the French, Italian and Spanish title races last season.

The chances of a trip to Spain are high, with fully half of the six available teams coming from that country. We beat two of those three last season, Sevilla being our first group stage opponents – a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge followed by a 4-0 away win – before the 3-1 aggregate win over Real Madrid in the semi-finals. The other is Barcelona, who we famously beat in the 2012 semis.

Elsewhere, we could face either Juventus or Paris Saint-Germain after their long title-winning streaks came to an end. The latter is one of two potential reunions for Thomas Tuchel with former clubs in this pot, the other being Borussia Dortmund, the only Pot 2 team we have not faced competitively before.

Pot 2: Barcelona (Spain), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Juventus (Italy), Liverpool (England), Manchester United (England), Paris Saint-Germain (France), Real Madrid (Spain), Sevilla (Spain)

Who should we watch out for in Pot 3?

The chances of Chelsea facing brand new opposition in this season’s Champions League group stage is relatively high, having never previously played four of the eight teams in Pot 3 in a competitive fixture. That includes both Red Bull-backed sides, Salzburg and Timo Werner’s former club Leipzig, as well as Italy’s perennial underdogs Atalanta and the opportunity of an early trip to the venue of this season’s final at Zenit St Petersburg.

The other four will be far more familiar to Chelsea supporters, as we beat Porto in last season’s quarter-finals and Ajax in the previous campaign’s group stage, while we defeated Benfica in both the 2013 Europa League final and the Champions League quarters en route to victory in 2012. Our previous meeting with Shakhtar Donetsk was less successful, as a 2-1 defeat in Ukraine contributed to our group stage exit in 2012/13, despite a 3-2 win over them at the Bridge.

Pot 3: Ajax (Netherlands), Atalanta (Italy), Benfica (Portugal), FC Salzburg (Austria), Porto (Portugal), RB Leipzig (Germany), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Zenit St Petersburg (Russia)

Any dark horses in Pot 4?

AC Milan are almost certainly the team to avoid in the bottom pot as they continue their resurgence after a barren spell, although there is no question former Blues Fikayo Tomori and Olivier Giroud would enjoy a warm welcome back to the Bridge following their summer moves to the Rossoneri.

There is something of an old school vibe to Pot 4, as we haven’t played AC Milan or Club Brugge since the Nineties, or Besiktas since 2004, although it could be a first away game against the Turkish side as the return fixture on that occasion was played in Germany. We have more recent memories of Dynamo Kiev and Malmo, having beaten them both in our successful 2018/19 Europa League campaign.

The unknown quantity are Sheriff Tiraspol, the Moldovans competing in the Champions League for the first-ever time, while Wolfsburg and Young Boys would also be new opponents for us.

Pot 4: AC Milan (Italy), Besiktas (Turkey), Club Brugge (Belgium), Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine), Malmo (Sweden), Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova), Wolfsburg (Germany), Young Boys (Switzerland)

What else should I look out for?

There will be plenty of Blues involvement in Turkey, as the draw will be conducted by two members of Chelsea’s first Champions League-winning team. Michael Essien and Branislav Ivanovic will be plucking the balls out of the bowls in Istanbul, 10 seasons after they lifted the trophy in 2011/12 by beating Bayern Munich on penalties in their home stadium.

The winners of several UEFA awards will also be revealed during the course of the group stage draw, with a number of Blues nominated, including both Thomas Tuchel and Emma Hayes being shortlisted for the men’s and women’s Coach of the Year honours.

We also have two of the three nominees for UEFA Men’s Player of the Year, Jorginho and N’Golo Kante, with the duo also in the running for 2020/21 UEFA Champions League Best Midfielder, while Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger and Edouard Mendy are also shortlisted in the Best Defender and Best Goalkeeper categories.

Ann-Katrin Berger, Magdalena Eriksson and Ji So-Yun are among the nominees for the positional awards for the 2020/21 UEFA Women’s Champions League.

Where can I follow the draw?

The draw begins at 5pm (in the UK) today and will be shown live on BT Sport and via a stream on UEFA’s website. We’ll also be bringing you all the latest information here on the official Chelsea website as well as The 5th Stand app and our social media channels.

In the meantime, here’s everything else you need to know about the draw.