2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage
The 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage began on 18 September and ended on 12 December 2018. A total of 32 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 16 places in the knockout phase of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League. Draw The draw for the group stage was held on 30 August 2018, 18:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on the following principles (Regulations Article 13.06): Pot 1 contained the Champions League title holders, the Europa League title holders, and the champions of the top six associations based on their 2017 UEFA country coefficients. If either the Champions League or Europa League title holders were one of the champions of the top six associations, the champions of the association ranked seventh (and possibly eighth) were also seeded into Pot 1. Pot 2, 3 and 4 contained the remaining teams, seeded based on their 2018 UEFA club coefficients. On 17 July 2014, the UEFA emergency panel ruled that Ukrainian and