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The road to Europe’s grandest football stage is set to take shape, with the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league phase draw confirmed for Thursday, August 28, 2025, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
The ceremony will begin at 5:00 PM UK time (6:00 PM CET, 12:00 PM ET).
After Paris Saint-Germain lifted the trophy last season, attention now turns to the new campaign.
Thirty-two teams have already booked their places in the expanded league phase, with Kairat Almaty, FK Bodø/Glimt, and Pafos sealing qualification earlier this week. The final four spots will be decided in the playoff ties on August 26–27.
This season follows UEFA’s new league phase model, replacing the traditional group stage. Each of the 36 clubs will play eight matches, against two opponents from each of the four seeding pots, one home and one away.
The draw begins with a manual pick from Pot 1 before an automated system assigns the rest. Importantly, clubs from the same national association cannot face each other, and no more than two teams from one country may be drawn against another.
At the end of the league phase, the top eight teams advance directly to the Round of 16, while those finishing 9th to 24th will contest a playoff to secure the remaining knockout places.
With four qualifiers still to be determined, UEFA’s seeding based on club coefficients has produced the following provisional pots:
Pot 1: Paris Saint-Germain (holders), Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona.
Pot 2: Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, Atlético Madrid, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus, Eintracht Frankfurt, (Tottenham Hotspur depending on coefficient outcome).
Pot 3: PSV Eindhoven, Ajax, Napoli, Sporting CP, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Bodø/Glimt, Marseille.
Pot 4: Monaco, Galatasaray, Union Saint-Gilloise, Athletic Bilbao, Newcastle United, Pafos, Kairat Almaty, plus one playoff qualifier.
The last four berths will be filled by winners of the playoff deciders: Rangers vs. Club Brugge, Basel vs. Copenhagen, Fenerbahçe vs. Benfica, and Ferencváros vs. Qarabağ. Their results could also cause minor reshuffles in the final pots.
Chelsea, seeded in Pot 1, will avoid Europe’s biggest heavyweights but could still face tricky tests from Pot 2 sides like Arsenal, Juventus, or Atlético Madrid. Arsenal, currently in Pot 2, are braced for the possibility of meeting a continental powerhouse such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, or PSG.
UEFA has confirmed that the full fixture list will be released by Saturday, August 30. The league phase itself kicks off in September 2025, setting the stage for another season of drama, rivalries, and unforgettable nights under the lights.
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