The UEFA Champions League league-phase draw explained
Men's football•
With the draw for the league phase of the 2025–2026 UEFA Champions League set to take place at 18:00 CET today, check out everything you need to know beforehand!
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After a completely crazy 2024–2025 Champions League campaign that saw PSG crowned champions, the world's most prestigious club competition promises to be exciting once again.
The format remains the same, with a league phase followed by a knockout stage. 36 teams have qualified for this league phase, where they will all be grouped together in a single table to face eight opponents.
How does the draw work? Let's take Paris Saint-Germain, a team in Pot 1, as an example. Thursday's draw will determine the capital club's opponents: eight different opponents over four home matches and four away matches. Each club will face two teams from each pot. Two teams from the same country cannot face each other during the group stage, and each team cannot face more than two teams from the same country during these eight matches. These matches will be played between September and January.
At the end of the league phase, the top eight teams will qualify directly for the round of 16, while the teams finishing from ninth to 24th will face each other in two-legged play-off matches for the right to join them there. The teams finishing 25th to 36th will be eliminated from all European competitions for the rest of the season.
From there onwards, the classic UCL format returns, with a round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals to be played over two legs before a single-match final at the Puskás Arena in Budapest.