UEFA club competition league phase draws to take place in Monaco on 28 and 29 August

This year's league phase draw for the UEFA Champions League will take place in Monaco on 28 August at 18:00 CET and will follow the exact same procedure as last year.

The 36 participating teams will be split into four pots based on their individual coefficient ranking with the UEFA Champions League titleholder the top seed in Pot 1. Starting with Pot 1, one physical ball will be drawn before the automated software – already in use last year – draws eight opponents for them, taking into account the following principles:

• Two teams from each of the four pots, with one home and one away match against teams from each pot drawn by the software.
• No teams from the same association drawn against each other.
• No more than two opponents from the same association.

The same procedure will be repeated for all other teams until all pairings have been drawn.

The UEFA Champions League fixture list with match dates and kick-off times will be communicated no later than Saturday 30 August. UEFA will post on its social media channels shortly before the publication of the fixtures to announce the pending publication.

Brand-new show for UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League draws

The novelty this season is that the league phase draw of the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League will be combined into one special show for the first time – live from the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, streamlining the content and maximising the impact of both draws.

The newly combined UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League show will provide a brighter spotlight for both draws, creating a celebration of the teams aspiring to lift two of the game's most beautiful European trophies.

The event will take place at 13:00 CET on Friday 29 August, as clubs and their fans tune in to discover their opponents for the second season of the exciting new league phase.

The two draws will be made in a fully digital format working with the same digital technology already used last year to instantly draw opponents, allowing for a smooth, efficient and speedy draw process.

So what’s different in the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League draws?

Not the software: it is the same already in use. Thanks to its flexibility, the system can either draw opponents to all teams one after the other – as in the UEFA Champions League – or draw all pairings instantly with a single press of the button. The latter will be the case for UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League.

What will happen then?

• One event, two draws: The UEFA Europa League draw will be followed by the UEFA Conference League draw, both taking place within the same ceremony.
• Digital draw system: No physical balls are used on stage. The draw button is pressed once at the beginning of both draws, thus activating the random selection of opponents, including who plays at home and who plays away.
• Reveal: After the software has conducted the full draw, the pairings and who plays each fixture home or away will be released progressively, pot after pot, starting with Pot 1, thus maintaining suspense and clarity for viewers.

When will the match calendar be known?

The teams will know all their opponents by the end of the draws, however the fixture lists with match dates and kick-off times will be elaborated afterwards and communicated by Sunday 31 August at the latest. UEFA will post on its social media channels shortly before the publication of the fixtures to announce the pending publication.

Additional information

The draw software for all three competitions is provided by AE Live. Since their appointment in September 2023 as a partner for all UEFA draws, they have developed and tested the software and integrated with various internal and external mechanisms to check and verify the results with more than 1,000,000 simulations across various configurations per competition and it was used successfully during last season’s draws.

The whole draw development was reviewed by an independent auditor, Ernst & Young, with particular regard to the randomness and compliance with the draw rules. Ernst & Young will also provide the review and control of the manual and digital draw operations on-site.

UEFA.com will provide free live coverage of the draws on 28 and 29 August.

Mark your calendars now!

The new league phase draw procedures will be made available on UEFA.com the week of the draws.

Please find here the 2025/26 UEFA competition match and draw dates.