The draw for the group stage was held on 30 August 2019, 13:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 48 teams were drawn into twelve groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on their 2019 UEFA club coefficients. On 17 July 2014, the UEFA emergency panel ruled that Ukrainian and Russian clubs would not be drawn against each other "until further notice" due to the political unrest between the countries. Moreover, for associations with two or more teams, teams were paired in order to split them into two sets of six groups for maximum television coverage. The following pairings were announced by UEFA after the group stage teams were confirmed:
On each matchday, one set of six groups play their matches at 18:55 CET/CEST, while the other set of six groups play their matches at 21:00 CET/CEST, with the two sets of groups alternating between each matchday. The fixtures were decided after the draw, using a computer draw not shown to public, with the following match sequence : Note: Positions for scheduling do not use the seeding pots, e.g. Team 1 is not necessarily the team from Pot 1 in the draw.
There were scheduling restrictions: for example, teams from the same city in general were not scheduled to play at home on the same matchday, and teams from "winter countries" were not scheduled to play at home on the last matchday.
Teams
Below are the participating teams, grouped by their seeding pot. They include:
Group winners and runners-up advance to round of 32
;Notes
Format
In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 32, where they are joined by the eight third-placed teams of the Champions League group stage.
Tiebreakers
Teams are ranked according to points, and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings :
Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Away goals scored in all group matches;
Wins in all group matches;
Away wins in all group matches;
Disciplinary points ;
UEFA club coefficient.
Groups
The matchdays are 19 September, 3 October, 24 October, 7 November, 28 November, and 12 December 2019. The scheduled kickoff times are 18:55 and 21:00 CET/CEST, with possible exceptions at 16:50 CET/CEST due to geographical reasons. Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA.
