By winning the Champions League on Saturday, not only will Chelsea be playing in the Champions League again next season, instead of the Europa League, but they will avoid the Champions League qualification game after being given a number one seed by UEFA.
Joining Chelsea as the top seeds in the August 30 draw are FC Barcelona, Man United, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Arsenal, FC Porto and AC Milan.
There promises to be some difficult groups as the champions of the four big leagues in Europe are in different groups for the draw. Manchester City are in group two, Juventus in the third group and Borussia Dortmund in group four. That means we could have a group of Champions: Real Madrid, Man City, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund. Talk about a group of death!!
There are some other potential pitfalls in the third and fourth pots where the likes of Schalke 04, Ajax, Galatasaray and the new French champions Montpeller will be seeded.
Champions League Seeds So Far
Group 1
Chelsea
FC Barcelona
Manchester United
Bayern München
Real Madrid
Arsenal
Porto
AC Milan
Group 2
Valencia
Benfica
Shakhtar Donetsk
Zenit
Schalke 04
Manchester City
Group 3
Olympiakos
Ajax
Anderlecht
Juventus
FC Copenhaguen*
Group 4
Galatasaray
Borussia Dortmund
Montpellier
Nordsjaelland*
*The team which wins the Danish league will not play the qualifying rounds
