The Champions League is nearly upon us for the new 2023/24 season, as treble-winners Manchester City try to retain their crown as the kings of Europe following their 1-0 win over Inter Milan in Istanbul in June. For the final time before the competition takes on a new format next season, 32 teams will be split into eight groups of four. Each group will contain one team from each of the four seeded pots, and clubs from the same national league will not be drawn together in the same group. Pot 1 will consist of the Champions League winners, the Europa League winners and six domestic champions of the highest ranked leagues. The remaining pots will be decided by Uefa’s club coefficient rankings. The final will take place at London’s Wembley Stadium on 1 June 2024. When is the Champions League draw? The draw for the group stage will take place in Monaco on Thursday 31 August, at 5pm BST. Which clubs have already qualified? There are 29 clubs already qualified for the Champions League group stage, and three play-offs still to be decided. England: Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United Spain: Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Sevilla Germany: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Leipzig, Union Berlin Italy: Inter Milan, Lazio, AC Milan, Napoli France: Lens, Paris Saint-Germain Portugal: Benfica, Porto, Braga Netherlands: Feyenoord Austria: Salzburg Scotland: Celtic Serbia: Red Star Belgrade Switzerland: Young Boys Turkey: Galatasaray Ukraine: Shakhtar Donetsk Who are still in the play-offs? PSV Eindhoven 2-2 Rangers, AEK Athens 0-1 Antwerp, Copenhagen 1-0 Rakow Czestochowa. What are the Champions League group stage dates? Matchday 1: 19/20 September 2023Matchday 2: 3/4 October 2023Matchday 3: 24/25 October 2023Matchday 4: 7/8 November 2023Matchday 5: 28/29 November 2023Matchday 6: 12/13 December 2023 Read More On this day in 2015: Manchester City sign Kevin De Bruyne for club-record fee Chelsea’s Academy stars can rise to Carabao Cup challenge – Mauricio Pochettino Atletico Madrid run riot in demolition of Rayo Vallecano Vinicius Jr facing lay-off after hamstring injury Points can’t mask Man United’s muddled start to Ten Hag’s second season Liverpool lucky with availability of centre-backs this season – Jurgen Klopp

As a heatwave take over much of America and Europe, with seawater in Florida reaching 100 degrees or more, much of Greece on fire, and July set to be the hottest month in living memory, some are still putting their head in sand about climate change and what the heatwave means for our Earth. Some right-wing conspiracy theorists have suggested that the heatwave is in fact a hoax and the numbers being reported are false. GB News presenter Neil Oliver has accused the BBC "and others" of "driving fear" by using "supposedly terrifying temperatures", in a clip that has been viewed over 2 million times. Oliver claims that the reported temperatures of "40 this and 40 that... were obtained using satellite images of ground temperatures," he said. "That's never been the temperature that's used in weather reporting and forecasting." Many conspiracy theorists have latched onto the temperature reported by BBC from the interior of Sicily (47C) and a weather station in sea-side Palermo (37C) from the BBC weather app, as proof that the BBC is faking its data. The BBC disputed the claims, stating that ground temperatures "are not used in the BBC's weather reporting and forecasting" unlike Oliver's false claim. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Oliver also retweeted other claims that climate data is manipulated and false, showing he is just one of many who are promoting such conspiracies. Former Fox News commentator Steven Milloy called it the "heat wave hysteria hoax": Some conspiracy theorists in the UK have argued that the heatwave and climate change are a hoax due to most of the country facing heavy wind and rain during the summer: However, the heavy rain fall during typically warmer and drier months is another sign of climate change's effects. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Victor Wembanyama made the tying basket with 20 seconds left in regulation, the opening basket in overtime and finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in his first NBA victory, helping the San Antonio Spurs beat the Houston Rockets 126-122

An overwhelming number of business owners in the United States are looking to expand their insurance coverage amid

England midfielder Georgia Stanway vowed the Lionesses would carry on fighting for top spot on the planet after finishing runners-up to Spain in the World Cup final in Sydney. The Lionesses were among the pre-tournament favourites in Australia and New Zealand, with punters pointing to their dominant run to last summer’s European title, but injuries to Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby and the retirement of Ellen White left Sarina Wiegman without four players who started every match of that triumph before she even named her World Cup squad. Wiegman barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief after learning key midfielder Keira Walsh’s knee injury, sustained in England’s second group-stage encounter, was not as serious as initially suspected before the influential Lauren James was sent off in the last 16 and issued a two-match ban. Stanway said after the 1-0 loss to Spain: “I think we can be proud. The last nine weeks, seven games, to wear a silver, it’s special. “It’s hard to watch another team celebrate when it’s your goal and your dream. When the dust settled, we’ll be really proud of this. “We hope everyone is really proud of us back at home. We hope we’ve inspired many many people. We’re the Lionesses, so we won’t stop what we’re doing, we’ll continue to break barriers, we’ll continue to push on.” Stanway was one of seven players named to Wiegman’s 23-woman squad who had also featured four years ago in France, where the Lionesses finished fourth. We’re the Lionesses, so we won’t stop what we’re doing, we’ll continue to break barriers, we’ll continue to push on. Georgia Stanway They guaranteed themselves an upgrade on their previous best finish, third at the 2015 tournament in Canada, when they knocked out co-hosts Australia with a 3-1 victory in the semi-final. But on Sunday in front of a capacity 75,784 crowd at Stadium Australia they could not quite get the job done, coming agonisingly close to a momentum-shifting goal when Lauren Hemp pinged an effort off the crossbar early in the first half. And after 29 minutes, Spain captain Olga Carmona struck the ultimately decisive strike past Mary Earps, who would go on to add a World Cup Golden Glove trophy to her 2022 FIFA Best award and save Jennifer Hermoso’s second-half penalty to give England a chance of staging a comeback that never came. Stanway, who successfully converted a penalty to secure England a 1-0 victory against Haiti in their tournament opener, admitted she was “a little too upset to listen” to Wiegman’s post-match chat, adding, “in those moments, it’s regrouping, realising how far we’ve come in this group. We’ve faced a lot in this tournament, before the tournament, people probably didn’t have us written to be in this situation, so to reach a World Cup final is achievement alone.” Defender Lucy Bronze, alongside Alex Greenwood, was one of just two Lionesses to have lived through the heartbreaks of 2015 and 2019 and after the loss admitted she was “just deflated”. The defender, who plays with nine of the Spain squad at Barcelona, added: “Obviously we went into the World Cup wanting to win it and we were so close, but in the end we couldn’t quite get it over the line. “I think we showed that, against adversity, we showed up. We were determined and resilient throughout the tournament – even before the tournament with missing a lot of players through injury and having a couple of different things happen throughout the tournament. We showed resilience to carry on and keep going and fighting. “I think I am proud of what the girls have achieved, what we have achieved, but I think everybody that knows me knows that I only like gold medals.” Kirby, Williamson and Mead could all return to tournament football should a Team GB qualify for next summer’s Paris Olympics through UEFA’s new Nations League, which begins in September. At 31, Bronze is one of the older members of Wiegman’s squad, but when asked if she would need to take some time to think about going for another trophy immediately, retorted: “I am not retiring from England if that is what you mean. “Olympics is always the goal, even if we would have won this tournament. The Nations League was the goal, the Olympics is the goal. “That’s a different team to this England team. The goal is always to win tournaments with this team. We have shown that we can do that. We have made a final today as well. There is no reason why the team can’t go and create more legacies and more winning legacies.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Aston Villa bounce back from opening league defeat to demolish dismal Everton We gave everything – Sarina Wiegman so proud despite ‘hard to take’ final defeat World Cup final in pictures: England fall to agonising defeat against Spain

A person familiar with the deal tells The Associated Press that free agent right-hander Kenta Maeda and the Detroit Tigers have agreed to a $24 million, two-year contract

The New Orleans Saints have placed top cornerback Marshon Lattimore on injured reserve and elevated newly signed defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul from the practice squad to the active roster

'This person trying to claim this is true is a perfect example of someone with selfish motives,' said Brian Austin Green

By Andy Bruce and David Milliken LONDON (Reuters) -Another record month for British pay growth put the Bank of England

Deco has revealed that Alejandro Balde & Lamine Yamal are close to signing new contracts at Barcelona.

HONG KONG Property developer China Evergrande Group on Sunday reported a January-June net loss of 33 billion yuan

Fulham boss Marco Silva talked up “quality” Chelsea midfield pair Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez ahead of the west London derby at Craven Cottage. Chelsea broke the British transfer record twice this year, signing Fernandez from Benfica for a reported £106.8million in January before beating Liverpool to confirm the transfer of Caicedo from Brighton for £115m in August. Silva spoke on how the pair’s price-tags reflect their ability and expects them to bring the fight to Harrison Reed and Joao Palhinha on Monday. “Enzo joined in January and Caicedo in the summer as well,” Silva said. “They’re quality. We are talking about two players they almost spent £250 million on. “This speaks about the quality and about how much they wanted them in their squad. “Plus (Conor) Gallagher in the midfield, they have the quality, the energy, they have the organisation to create a very good fight with our midfield line and I think it will be a very good fight because they have that quality.” Alex Iwobi’s second-half strike during Wednesday’s Carabao Cup third round 2-1 victory over Norwich was his first Fulham goal since his reported £22million move from Everton on deadline day. They have the quality, the energy, they have the organisation to create a very good fight with our midfield line Marco Silva on Chelsea's midfield Silva, who also signed Iwobi as Everton manager in 2019, spoke on the Nigeria international’s versatility and what he offers to his squad. “It was very good (Iwobi’s performance against Norwich),” Silva added. “He’s a player I know really well, he knows the Premier League so well and he’s mature. He has the quality, can play in many different positions and is a player that will give us the quality that we need in certain parts of the game. “He provides that extra energy as well. It was good for him to score on his first game in a Fulham shirt and I want to see more of him. “He’s going to be a really important player for us and I am pleased for him for starting his first game.” From Chelsea’s starting XI during their 2-1 loss at Fulham in January, Thiago Silva and Trevoh Chalobah are the only remaining players at the club. Silva said: “They are different and we are different as well. I think the game is going to be completely different. We can have a look for some things, but it will be different. They have a different manager.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka add to USA woes with horror start to day two Europe look to extend Ryder Cup lead after keeping faith with foursomes pairs Ryder Cup day two: Europe aim to build on record-equalling start