All information about the Champions League draw on Thursday
29 of the 36 participants for the 2025/26 Champions League season have been confirmed—as have the pots for the four Bundesliga teams and the draw date. The most important questions and answers.
Back in the Champions League: Eintracht Frankfurt will learn its eight group stage opponents on Thursday. picture alliance/KEYSTONE
Following the major reform, 36 teams will participate in the Champions League for the second time in 2025/26, with one league with all teams in the preliminary round instead of eight groups of four.
Who has already qualified for the 2025/26 Champions League?29 clubs have already secured their place in the 2025/26 Champions League. Among them are the four German participants: FC Bayern , Borussia Dortmund , Bayer 04 Leverkusen , and Eintracht Frankfurt , all of whom qualified based on their Bundesliga placings. Also guaranteed are:
England (6): Manchester City, Liverpool FC, Chelsea FC, Arsenal FC, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United
Spain (5): Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal FC, Athletic Bilbao
Italy (4): Inter Milan, Atalanta Bergamo, Juventus Turin, SSC Napoli
France (3): Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique Marseille, AS Monaco
Netherlands (2): Ajax Amsterdam, PSV Eindhoven
Portugal (1): Sporting Lisbon
Greece (1): Olympiacos Piraeus
Czech Republic (1): Slavia Prague
Turkey (1): Galatasaray Istanbul
Belgium (1): Union Saint-Gilloise
Because the finalists PSG and Inter had already qualified through the league, Olympiacos advanced to the league stage before the final – as the club with the best coefficient of all the champions who had originally secured a spot in the Champions League qualifiers. The remaining seven tickets for the league stage will be awarded there.
Why does the Premier League have six teams?In the Premier League, as in the Bundesliga, the top four teams in the table qualify for the Champions League. However, due to the strong European performance of the English teams, the Premier League, like Spain, received one of the two European Performance Spots from UEFA, which also qualified the fifth-place team. In addition, Tottenham, as Europa League winners, earned a spot in the Champions League.
When is the draw for the Champions League league phase?The Champions League draw will take place on August 28 at 6 p.m. (LIVE! on kicker). UEFA will once again be assisted by a computer.
Which pots do the four Bundesliga teams belong to? And why is that not so important?Once again, the 36 teams will be assigned to four pots in the draw, which – with the exception of the defending champions, who will always be placed in the first pot – will be sorted solely by their UEFA coefficient. FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund will be placed in the first pot, while Leverkusen and Frankfurt will be placed in the second pot. But ultimately, that doesn't matter: Each team will be drawn against two teams from each pot – including their own – against whom they will play in the league phase, with one home and one away opponent from each pot.
What are the most important dates of the 2025/26 Champions League season?The first matchday of the league phase will take place from September 16th to 18th, making it the only matchday scheduled from Tuesday to Thursday. The Europa League and Conference League are still on break this week. Following the further matchdays on September 30th/October 1st, October 21st/22nd, November 4th/5th, November 25th/26th, December 9th/10th, and January 20th/21st, the final eighth matchday will take place on January 28th, again with 18 fixtures.
The knockout phase begins on 17/18 February with the knockout round play-offs (return legs on 24/25 February), which will be drawn on 30 January, followed by the round of 16 (10/11 and 17/18 March), quarter-finals (7/8 and 14/15 April), semi-finals (28/29 April and 5/6 May) and the final on 30 May 2026 in Budapest.
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