Liverpool were drawn on Thursday to face champions Real Madrid when they return to the Champions League, which has been expanded to a 36-team league format.
Manchester United, winners of the competition in 2017, will have a lot of travelling to do to Eastern Europe after being drawn alongside Kazakhstan side Astana, Serbia's Partizan Belgrade and Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.
Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo was named UEFA's European Club Footballer of the Year on Thursday after scoring 42 goals last season including eight in the Champions League.
The Frenchman declined to talk about his bid for the FIFA presidency in his first news conference since announcing one month ago that he would stand as a candidate to replace Sepp Blatter.
Renault's technical director claims the car represents an aggressive evolution of the championship-winning design philosophy
Former European champions Ajax Amsterdam and Celtic, who both suffered the indignity of being knocked of the Champions League qualifiers by underdogs this season, will meet in the Europa Leagueafter being drawn together in the group stage on Friday.
European champions Real Madrid will face former champions Liverpool, FC Basel and debutants Ludogorets of Bulgaria following the draw for the group stage of the Champions league on Thursday.
Pep Guardiola will return to the Nou Camp in the Champions League group stage after his new club Manchester City were drawn against his former Barcelona team on Thursday. The two sides were drawn in Group C alongside Borussia Moenchengladbach and former European champions Celtic in one of the toughest of the eight sections. Spanish coach Guardiola, who won the Champions League twice with Barca, faced the Catalans when he was in charge of Bayern Munich two seasons ago and suffered a 5-3 defeat in the semi-finals.
European clubs are anticipating another windfall after changes to the Champions League and say the new system will be fairer as well as making them richer. The European Clubs Association (ECA) said it expected revenue from the Champions League and Europa League to jump from 2.35 billion euros ($2.62 billion) per season to around 3 billion euros from 2018-19, when the changes, announced by UEFA last month, come into force. ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge also ruled out talk of a breakaway Super League in the foreseeable future, saying the clubs wanted to remain united.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
Radical changes to how cities will bid to host Olympic Games, and rules allowing more sports to feature, were among 40 innovations ushered in on Monday as International Olympic Committee members took bold steps to revamp their movement.
Champions League holders Real Madrid will face former European champions Liverpool, FC Basel and debutants Ludogorets of Bulgaria following the group stage draw on Thursday.
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