The 2021-22 Champions League has only just ended but attention has quickly turned to next year’s edition.

Real Madrid beat Liverpool 1-0 in Sunday’s final, with Vinicius Junior scoring the winner in the 59th minute.

It was a shocking loss for Jurgen Klopp’s side, but the result also has ramifications for the pots in the 2022-23 group stage.

Here, Athleticism breaks down everything you need to know about next season’s Champions League pots.

How are the pots decided?

There are four pots, each containing eight teams, for the Champions League group stage draw. They are then split into eight groups of four, with the draw for the 2022-23 campaign taking place on August 25.

Pot 1 is made up of the league champions from Europe’s top six divisions – Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Primeira Liga – as well as the winners of the Champions League and Europa League.

Pots 2, 3 and 4 are determined by the UEFA Club Coefficient – each team’s performance in European competitions over the past five seasons.

For a full breakdown of club and country coefficients and how they work, check out this article.

How did the Champions League final affect the pots?

Ajax will be in Pot 1 for next season’s Champions League group stage and Liverpool in Pot 2, following Real’s victory over Klopp’s men in the 2021-22 final on Saturday.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side had already confirmed themselves as the Pot 1 side for the 2022-23 group stage after being crowned La Liga champions.

Liverpool had already missed out on a place in Pot 1 on the final day of their domestic season, with Manchester City propelling them to the Premier League title.

This meant they had to beat Real to claim a place in Pot 1 – as Champions League winners are automatically placed in this pot, regardless of their league position and club coefficient.

The defeat of Klopp’s side in Paris meant that the extra place in Pot 1 went to the winner of Europe’s seventh league – the Dutch Eredivisie.

This means Ajax will join the Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Primeira Liga champions in Pot 1, as well as the Champions League and League winners. Europe.

So who’s in Pot 1?

These eight teams are all confirmed in Pot 1:

What about jar 2?

These eight teams are all confirmed in Pot 2:

And jar 3?

These seven teams are all confirmed in Pot 3:

And jar 4?

These two sides are confirmed for Pot 4:

And the rest of the teams?

The remaining spots in pots 3 and 4 will be determined by the teams that qualify for the group stage.

Marseille qualified automatically after finishing second in Ligue 1 but have yet to receive a pot.

How does the qualification process work?

The qualification process begins on June 21 and ends on August 24, the day before the group stage draw.

Teams from 51 UEFA nations enter the process at some point. Only the top four countries – England, Spain, Italy and Germany – have no clubs due to play in the qualifiers.

Qualification begins with a preliminary round featuring the champions of UEFA’s four lowest-ranked nations, namely San Marino, Andorra, Estonia and Iceland.

There are then three more qualifying rounds in July and early August, before a play-off round in mid-August.

The play-off round consists of 12 teams, with the winners of each game qualifying for the group stage. Only league champions Turkey and Denmark, Trabzonspor and FC Copenhagen respectively, are confirmed to feature in the play-offs.

Every tie throughout the qualification process is a two-legged affair.

How does the situation in Russia affect things?

Russia are eighth in the nation-by-country coefficient (of the 2020-21 rankings, which is used for UEFA competition in 2022-23), meaning their league champions would automatically qualify for the group stage of the Champions League.

However, due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, its clubs were suspended from UEFA competitions.

This means the league champions of UEFA’s 11th-ranked nation Scotland automatically qualify for the group stage instead of the play-off round.

Celtic will therefore play in the group stage of the Champions League for the first time since the 2017-18 season.

(Pictures: Getty Images)