The draw for the group stage of the Champions League will take place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Thursday evening. Here the PA news agency explains how it will unfold. When is the draw? The draw is due to start at 5pm UK time on Thursday evening. How will it work? The 32 teams will be split into eight groups of four, with the four seeding pots not set to be confirmed until Thursday morning. The identity of the final qualifiers will not be known until Wednesday evening. Pot 1 will feature European champions Manchester City, Europa League winners Sevilla and six domestic champions. Pots two to four will be based on the UEFA club coefficient rankings. As usual, teams from the same country will be kept apart until at least the quarter-final stage. Pairings and any other restrictions will be announced ahead of the draw. What else do we need to know about the format? September 19 and 20 October 3 and 4 October 24 and 25 November 7 and 8 November 28 and 29 December 12 and 13 The teams play each other home and away between September and December as usual, with the top two progressing to the Champions League last 16. The teams finishing third enter the Europa League knockout round play-offs, where they will face the runners-up from the Europa League group stages for a place in the last 16 of that competition. What else should we expect on Thursday night? UEFA plans to announce the four winners of its 2022-23 awards – men’s player and coach, plus women’s player and coach – during the draw ceremony. There will be particular focus on the women’s awards amid the unfolding crisis in Spanish football – two of the country’s World Cup-winning team, Aitana Bonmati and Olga Carmona, are nominated for the player award while Jorge Vilda is nominated for the coach award. What else should we look out for this season? This season marks the final year of the group stage as we have come to know it. From next season the 32-team group stage will be replaced by a 36-team league phase, with each team playing eight matches on a seeded basis. It will be worth keeping an eye as the season progresses on the country coefficients, which are based on the collective performance of a country’s clubs in the three UEFA men’s club competitions. One team each from the two best-performing countries will secure additional places in the league phase, under changes agreed at UEFA Congress in Vienna last year. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Savannah Marshall would relish rematch with rival Claressa Shields in MMA cage England Women to get same match fees as men after Ashes summer boosts profile Daniel James injury blow for Wales ahead of Euro 2024 qualifier against Latvia

After the mass shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs that turned a drag queen’s birthday celebration into a massacre, the conservative community was forced to reckon with its reputation for being unwelcoming to gay, lesbian and transgender people

HONG KONG (Reuters) -The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Thursday left its base rate charged through the overnight discount

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China has been using Cuba as a spy base since at least 2019, the White House confirmed on Saturday. It was reported last week that Cuba and China had reached an agreement in principle to build a spy base on the island. The Wall Street Journal, quoting senior US officials familiar with the matter, reported that China planned on paying Cuba billions of dollars in exchange. Initially, the White House said that the report was inaccurate. However, on Saturday, it said: “This is an ongoing issue and not a new development.” It claimed though that “the arrangement as characterised in the reporting does not comport with our understanding.” The statement said that Joe Biden upon joining office in January 2021 was briefed on China’s efforts to expand its global military and intelligence presence. “The PRC [People’s Republic of China] conducted an upgrade of its intelligence collection facilities in Cuba in 2019. This is well-documented in the intelligence record.” It said the Chinese government “will keep trying to enhance its presence in Cuba, and we will keep working to disrupt it”. The statement added: “We think the PRC isn’t quite where they had hoped to be.” It also claimed that the US has taken diplomatic and other steps to “slow down” the Chinese government in Cuba. The WSJ had earlier reported that an electronic eavesdropping station on the island would allow Beijing to gather electronic communications from the southeastern United States, home to many US military bases, as well as monitor ship traffic. China, meanwhile, accused the US of “spreading rumours and slander” and called the US “the most powerful hacker empire in the world”. “As we all know, spreading rumours and slander is a common tactic of the United States,” Wang Wenbin, spokesperson at the Chinese foreign ministry said. “The United States is also the most powerful hacker empire in the world, and also veritably a major monitoring nation.” Read More Honduras opens embassy in China after breaking off ties with Taiwan Ex-governor general examining allegations of Chinese meddling in Canada steps down China calls US the ‘most powerful hacker empire’ as it denies deal to set up Cuba spy station

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 17, 2023--

Click here to find out why the Buffalo Sabres are already regretting their offseason moves.

A federal judge says she won’t block temporarily a large swath of North Carolina’s abortion law taking effect this weekend that includes a near-ban after 12 weeks of pregnancy

A Kim Kardashian fan wrote, 'The attention doesn't need to be on you every second of life. It drives me crazy what she wears to the kids games'

By Sudarshan Varadhan and Nidhi Verma BAMBOLIM, India A draft statement by Group of 20 energy officials was

US consumer inflation cooled more than expected last month, according to government data published Tuesday, providing welcome news for policymakers looking to control price increases...