Not enough points for Chelsea to make top pot

Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United will be among the top seeds when the draw for the 2006/07 Champions League is made next month.

However, English champions Chelsea will not figure in the same pot with the elite eight clubs.

Chelsea have an outside chance of clashing with European champions Barcelona in the early stages of the lucrative tournament as the other teams in contention have a better co-efficient in the rankings thanks to a longer history in the competition.

Beaten finalists Arsenal and 2005 champions Liverpool still need to qualify to take their place among the top seeds for the group phase, while Celtic, the Scottish champions, will be in the pot of second seeds.

Even if Juventus and Milan win their appeals against their punishments for Italy's match-fixing scandal, their inclusion would not alter the seedings of any British sides in the draw. UEFA have given the FIGC until July 25 to confirm which sides will be taking part in European competition next season.

UEFA's procedure sees the 32 sides in the Champions League split into four pots of eight teams, divided according to their current European ranking.

Each group will contain one team from the top seeds, one from the second seeds, one from the third and one from the fourth. The draw is scheduled for August 24.

Pot One: Barcelona; Real Madrid; Inter; Liverpool; Arsenal; Man. United; Valencia; Lyon.

Pot Two: Porto; PSV Eindhoven; Bayern Munich; Chelsea; Roma; Ajax; Celtic; Lille.