FC Bayern's possible Champions League group stage opponents

Bayern will kick off their latest European campaign on on 14 or 15 September, but who will they be facing? They'll find out when the draw for the 2021/22 Champions League group stage is made on Thursday, 26 August in Istanbul. fcbayern.com has drawn up a list of all the teams the 2020 winners could come up against.

You can follow the draw with our live blog:

Bayern seeded in pot one

As always, the 32 participants are divided into four pots. FC Bayern are seeded in Pot 1. This means that clashes with defending champions Chelsea or Pep Guardiola's Manchester City are out of the question - and the same applies to ties with the other German participants in the competition across the other pots. However, the men from Munich could still be drawn against some top-class opponents from Pot 2. Since Spanish champions Atletico Madrid and Europa League winners Villarreal are in Pot 1, this is where record winners Real Madrid and five-time European champions Barcelona, for example, can be found. Paris Saint-Germain, who knocked Bayern out in the quarter-finals last year, are also a possibility.

Waiting in Pot 3 are Porto and Ajax, two possible opponents who have already won the competition. Zenit St. Petersburg and Atalanta are other exciting teams and interesting destinations. In Pot 4 are the supposedly easiest opponents, but they include AC Milan, a famous name against whom FCB have already had memorable European clashes. But no matter who the Bavarians are drawn against, Julian Nagelsmann and his team want to get through the group stage to have a chance of reaching the final on 28 May 2022 at the Gazprom Arena in St. Petersburg.

The draw pots:

Pot 1 (no opponents possible):
Chelsea, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, FC Bayern, Inter Milan, Lille, Sporting Lisbon

Pot 2:
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Sevilla, Borussia Dortmund (not possible)

Pot 3:
Porto, Ajax, Shakhtar Donetsk, RB Leipzig (not possible), Salzburg, Benfica, Atalanta, Zenit St. Petersburg

Pot 4:
Besiktas, Dynamo Kyiv, Club Brugge, Young Boys, AC Milan, Malmo, VfL Wolfsburg (not possible), Sheriff Tiraspol

Group stage match dates:

Matchday 1: 14/15 September
Matchday 2: 28/29 September
Matchday 3: 19/20 October
Matchday 4: 2/3 November
Matchday 5: 23/24 November
Matchday 6: 7/8 December

FC Bayern's last Champions League title win was just over a year ago. Here you can relive the road to the title: