UEFA Champions League: League phase draw

The 2025/26 UEFA Champions League league phase draw took place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco from 18:00 CET on Thursday 28 August.

LEAGUE PHASE DRAW
Number of teams involved: 36
Number of matches: 144 (18 matches per matchday; 8 matchdays in total)
Matchdays: 16/17/18 September 2025, 30 September–1 October 2025, 21/22 October 2025, 4/5 November 2025, 25/26 November 2025, 9/10 December 2025, 20/21 January 2026 and 28 January 2026
Kick-off times: 18:45 CET or 21:00 CET

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 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 (see Annex D) and 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, was 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 a 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 procedure

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 is 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, so 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)

Draw explanation

A video explaining the draw procedure was shown prior to the draw.

Calendar elaboration

In accordance with Paragraph 23.01 (b) of the competition regulations, the UEFA administration decides which matches are played on Tuesday, which on Wednesday and which on Thursday (MD1 only), as well as the kick-off times. Furthermore, as per Paragraph 17.02 of the above-mentioned regulations a club, in principle, does not play more than two home or two away matches in a row, and each club plays one home match and one away match in the first two matchdays and the last two matchdays. If need be, however, the UEFA administration may derogate from these rules.

The calendar of all matches of the league phase will be available on Saturday 30 August.

Additional information

In accordance with paragraph 16.03 of the UEFA Champions League regulations, the UEFA Club Competitions Committee has determined an additional condition that may be applicable to the UEFA Champions League draw for the 2026/27 season, deciding that any individual fixture between the same two teams may not be repeated in the same competition with the same home team for three consecutive seasons.

This means that if any teams that already played against each other in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in the 2024/25 season are again drawn against each other, with the same home team, in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in this 2025/26 season, those teams will not be able to be drawn against each other with the same home team in the 2026/27 season (although, for the sake of clarity, those teams could still be drawn against each other at the venue of the other team).