The stage is set for a new round of Champions League ties, with six teams representing each major league across Europe. Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Newcastle, and Tottenham will join the race for the trophy alongside the likes of last season’s winners PSG, German giants Bayern Munich, and Spanish sides Barcelona and Real Madrid, amongst others.
Al Nassr FC hopeful for a successful run this time
All six Premier League clubs are scheduled to play eight league phase games—four home and four away—between September 2025 and January 2026.
Draw procedure
Based on Article 16 of the UEFA Champions League Regulations, the following draw procedure was adopted by the UEFA Club Competitions Committee.
Match system
All league phase matches are played in accordance with the league system, whereby each club plays eight opponents in single-leg ties. Each club plays four home and four away matches.
Draw the system and conditions.
A draw, which may be conducted digitally, determined the pairings for the league phase. The 36 clubs were divided into four pots of nine clubs. The pots were composed according to the club coefficient rankings established at the beginning of the season, with the UEFA Champions League titleholder being the top seed in pot 1.
The opponents of each team, as well as whether each match is played at home or away, were determined by means of a draw. Each team was drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots and plays one opponent from each pot at home and the other away. In principle, teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other and each team may play against a maximum of two opponents from any other one association, subject to Paragraph 16.03.
The UEFA administration may have determined alternative conditions for the draw in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee and may have adapted any of the conditions of the draw to avoid deadlock situations and/or take into account any relevant constraints in light of decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee.
Draw system
The draw was executed partly manually, with balls physically drawn from a bowl, and partly digitally, through designated automated software, as further explained in the procedure below. The whole draw process (digital and manual) was reviewed and checked by an appointed external auditor.
Draw
Four bowls were prepared for the draw, one for each of the four draw pots. Each bowl comprised nine balls containing the names of the teams forming the pot.
Pot 1
A ball was physically drawn at random from the relevant bowl and was opened to display the name of the team drawn.
Once the name of the team was displayed, the automated software randomly drew eight opponents for this team, two from each pot (1, 2, 3, and 4), including, for each opponent, whether they are played at home or away. The order of allocation of opponents started with pot 1 (two opponents), followed by the other pots in descending order. The software drew the possible valid opponents from all pots, respecting the above-mentioned draw conditions, and ensured that a valid allocation was made, guaranteeing the full draw and match schedule in line with the competition calendar could be completed for all teams. This allocation by the software was made within a predefined time limit.
Once a valid allocation had been drawn by the software, the opponents and which matches are played at home or away were revealed.
The procedure was then repeated for all remaining teams of pot 1.
Whilst proceeding with the draw, a number of opponents had already been drawn and directly displayed, reducing the number of opponents to be drawn for the subsequent teams.
Pot 2
As for pot 1, a ball was physically drawn at random from the relevant bowl and was opened to display the name of the team drawn.
The two opponents of pot 1 for this team were already determined during the draw for pot 1 teams.
The software therefore drew, with the same procedure as described for pot 1, two opponents from each of the remaining pots (2, 3, and 4), including, for each opponent, whether they will be played at home or away.
The procedure was then repeated for the remaining teams of pot 2.
Pot 3
The procedure was the same as for pot 1 and pot 2. Only opponents from pots 3 and 4 needed to be drawn.
Pot 4
The procedure was the same as for the previous pots. Only opponents from pot 4 needed to be drawn.
Participants
Pot 1
1. Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
2. Real Madrid C.F. (ESP)
3. Manchester City (ENG)
4. FC Bayern München (GER)
5. Liverpool FC (ENG)
6. FC Internazionale Milano (ITA)
7. Chelsea FC (ENG)
8. Borussia Dortmund (GER)
9. FC Barcelona (ESP)
Pot 2
10. Arsenal FC (ENG)
11. Bayer 04 Leverkusen (GER)
12. Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
13. SL Benfica (POR)
14. Atalanta BC (ITA)
15. Villarreal CF (ESP)
16. Juventus (ITA)
17. Eintracht Frankfurt (GER)
18. Club Brugge KV (BEL)
Pot 3
19. Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
20. PSV Eindhoven (NED)
21. AFC Ajax (NED)
22. SSC Napoli (ITA)
23. Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
24. Olympiacos FC (GRE)
25. SK Slavia Praha (CZE)
26. FK Bodø/Glimt (NOR)
27. Olympique de Marseille (FRA)
Pot 4
28. F.C. Copenhagen (DEN)
29. AS Monaco (FRA)
30. Galatasaray A.Ş. (TUR)
31. R. Union Saint-Gilloise (BEL)
32. Qarabağ FK (AZE)
33. Athletic Club (ESP)
34. Newcastle United FC (ENG)
35. Pafos FC (CYP)
36. FC Kairat Almaty (KAZ)
English teams and their various groups
Liverpool: Real Madrid (H), Inter Milan (A), Atletico Madrid (H), Eintracht Frankfurt (A), PSV (H), Marseille (A), Qarabag (H), and Galatasaray (A).
Arsenal: Bayern Munich (H), Inter Milan (A), Atletico Madrid (H), Club Brugge (A), Olympiacos (H), Slavia Praha (A), Kairat Almaty (H), and Athletic Club (A).
Man City: Borussia Dortmund (H), Real Madrid (A), Bayer Leverkusen (H), Villarreal (A), Napoli (H), Bodo/Glimt (A), Galatasaray (H), and Monaco (A).
Chelsea: Barcelona (H), Bayern Munich (A), Benfica (H), Atalanta (A), Ajax (H), Napoli (A), Pafos (H), and Qarabag (A).
Newcastle: Barcelona (H), PSG (A), Benfica (H), Bayer Leverkusen (A), PSV (H), Marseille (A), Athletic Club (H), and Union SG (A).
Tottenham: Borussia Dortmund (H), PSG (A), Villarreal (H), Eintracht Frankfurt (A), Slavia Praha (H), Bodo/Glimt (A), Copenhagen (H), and Monaco (A).
How the league phase will proceed
The new format, which took effect from the 2024/25 season, has each team play a total of eight matches in a league phase. The teams play against eight different sides, that is, two teams from each pot—pots 1, 2, 3, and 4—half of which are home and the other half are away games. The draw was made automatically by a supercomputer, which selected the eight opponents randomly off a single touch.
Qualification for the knockout rounds
The top eight teams from the league phase will qualify automatically for the round of 16, while teams that finish from the 25th position below will be eliminated. Meanwhile, teams that finish between 9th and 24th place will undergo a two-legged knockout-phase playoff. The teams will be seeded—those from 9th to 16th position will be paired against those that finish between 17th and 24th.
The eight clubs who scale through the knockout-phase play-off will then proceed to be matched with any of the top eight from the league-phase table in the quarter finals.
The Champions League league-phase matches will be held from September 16, 2025, to January 28, 2026. The draw for the two-legged knockout-phase play-offs will take place on January 30, 2026, while the draws for the round of 16, quarter finals, and semi-finals will be held on February 27. The final will take place at Puskas Arena, Budapest, Hungary, on May 30, 2026.
