2025-26 Champions League draw: schedule, where to watch and qualified teams
- Where to watch the Champions League draw today
- How does the new format work?
- Teams qualified for the 2025-26 Champions League
- Draw pots
- Which rivals could the Spanish teams face?
The European club season officially kicks off with the 2025-26 Champions League draw, which will be held in Monaco at 6 p.m. (Spanish mainland time). The event marks the start of a season that will once again feature the single league format with 36 teams, which was introduced last season.
Spain will have five representatives: Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Athletic Club and Villarreal. All of them will find out their match schedule today in a league that, as in the previous edition, will consist of eight matchdays: each club will play four home games and four away games against their rivals.
Where to watch the Champions League draw today
The event can be followed live on Movistar Liga de Campeones, which will offer special programming from Monaco. In addition, UEFA will broadcast the draw via free online streaming on its official website (uefa.com).
How does the new format work?
The league phase will bring together 36 teams. The top eight teams after eight matchdays will advance directly to the round of 16. Teams ranked 9th to 24th will compete in a promotion play-off for a place in the round of 16, while those ranked 25th to 36th will be eliminated.
Each team will face two opponents from each of the four pots, ensuring variety in the match-ups. One of the new features of this edition is that the top four teams in the group stage will retain the privilege of playing the second leg at home in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals. If any of them are eliminated, that benefit passes to the team that eliminated them.
Teams qualified for the 2025-26 Champions League
The list of teams qualified for this stage of the Champions League consists of: Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham and Newcastle from England; Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Athletic Club and Villarreal representing Spain; Napoli, Inter, Atalanta and Juventus from Italy; Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt and Dortmund from Germany; Paris Saint-Germain, Marseille and Monaco from France; PSV and Ajax from the Netherlands; Benfica and Sporting CP from Portugal; Union Saint-Gilloise and Bruges from Belgium; Galatasaray (Turkey), Slavia Prague (Czech Republic), Olympiacos (Greece), Paphos (Cyprus), Bodo/Glimt (Norway), Kairat Almaty (Kazakhstan), Qarabag (Azerbaijan) and Copenhagen (Denmark).
Draw pots
PSG, as reigning champions, will head pot 1, which also includes Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Atlético de Madrid and Villarreal will be in pot 2, while Athletic Club will be in pot 4 due to their UEFA coefficient.
Which rivals could the Spanish teams face?
Despite the presence of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona in pot 1, both could face top-level teams from the lower pots. For example, a match-up against Manchester City or Bayern Munich (pot 2) would be a headache for Madrid and Barça fans. Other notable potential opponents include Juventus, Arsenal and the ever-competitive Napoli. Pot 3 contains some tricky opponents such as Ajax, Sporting CP and Olympiacos, all of whom have European experience and difficult home grounds.
Atlético and Villarreal, in pot 2, could face any of the giants in pot 1, such as PSG, Liverpool or the Spanish clubs themselves if they are not in the same group (which depends on the pairing system). For its part, Athletic Club, from pot 4, will surely face the toughest group: it could be paired with Real Madrid, Manchester City and Benfica, which would be a major challenge for Ernesto Valverde's side.
Everything is ready for the start of a Champions League that promises excitement from day one. This afternoon, the teams will find out their European destinations.