Rostov, who has not qualified for the Champions League group stage before, will take on Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on September 13.
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– There will be no change to the format itself.
Taking after a qualifying stage, 32 teams will be pulled in eight parties of four for the advantage to be one of 16 sides to continue on to the knockout conflict.
-Financial distribution to clubs will be increased significantly for both competitions.
The Scottish champions have been placed in Group C alongside Barcelona, Borussia Monchengladbach, and Manchester City, in what is being regarded as the toughest group in the Champions League.
Europe’s top four domestic leagues have been guaranteed four places each in the group stages of the Champions League from the 2018-19 season, in a revamp of Europe’s elite club competition. Liechtenstein is the only UEFA member without a national league while clubs from Kosovo are not participating at present as their facilities are considered below standard.
The Europa League winners will also be guaranteed a place in the group stages.
The other teams to qualify will be the Champions League and Europa League titleholders respectively.
Meanwhile, Uefa has announced plans to introduce a new system for the club coefficients.
The 10 top team ranked leagues are now Spain, Germany, England, Italy, France, Russia, Portugal, Ukraine, Belgium and Turkey.
Italy is the big victor in the new agreement, which had to be completed this year to let UEFA start selling broadcasting and sponsorship rights for the 2018-21 commercial cycle.
UEFA have also confirmed that the Europa League winners will now automatically qualify for the group stage of the Champions League the following season.
UEFA says the “market pool” system – which steers money to clubs in England, Germany, and Italy, where the rights deals are bigger – will be changed to reward better results in the competition.
Additional proposals include alterations to how club coefficients are calculated.
It’s essentially and quick and easy way to favour the big leagues, the big teams and the big revenues.
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UEFA competition cycles remain in place for three seasons, so further changes would only be possible from the 2021-22 season onwards.
