Champions League draw 2025-26: time, TV, format, and qualified teams

BarcelonaThis afternoon, all eyes will be on the city of Monaco. The Grimaldi Fòrum will host the UEFA Champions League draw starting at 6 p.m. Hansi Flick's Barça will discover the first eight opponents with the hope of at least equaling the feat achieved last season, when they came just minutes away from playing in another European final. The Catalans' debut will be on September 16-18, a match that they will play away to. intention of being able to play the entire first phase of the competition at the Camp Nou. Thus, the possible return of the Champions League to the Blaugrana home will be, barring any changes, on September 30th or October 1st. The league phase will conclude on Wednesday, January 28th, 2026, with a unified matchday. This process will begin in September and the 36 teams hope to conclude on May 30th at the Puskás Arena in Budapest (Hungary).

Changes to the format to fix what hurt Barça

For the second season, clubs have been divided into four pots with nine teams in each, distributed according to individual coefficient. Each team will play two matches against opponents from all pots (one home and one away). A draw will be carried out by software, leaving behind the tradition of shuffling the balls (it will only be done to select the eight teams from the first pot). There are two exceptions: clubs from the same country cannot play against each other, nor can they play against more than two opponents from the same federation. The top eight teams will advance directly to the round of 16. The ninth to twenty-fourth teams will play a preliminary round (with the return leg for the teams finishing between ninth and sixteenth). Finally, all those finishing below twenty-fifth (inclusive) will be eliminated from Europe.

Meanwhile, UEFA has introduced a change to the regulations to give more weight to the league phase. Starting with this edition, the final ranking will determine the second leg of the knockout stages, which will be played at the home of the highest-placed team. However, there is one exception: if a lower-placed team eliminates a team ranked higher, they retain that advantage. For example: If, as happened last year, PSG (15th in the league) eliminates Liverpool (1st), the Parisians would play all the other second legs at home. This rule, in fact, disadvantaged Hansi Flick's Barça, who had to play the second legs of the quarterfinals (Borussia Dortmund) and the semifinals (Inter Milan) away.

Three teams making their Champions League debut

As every season, the Champions League qualifying rounds produce some interesting stories. If last year it was Girona, who were competing in European competition for the first time, this season there are three teams making their debut in the top club competition. One is Bodø/Glimt, a Norwegian team that captivated everyone last year—with which they reached the UEFA Europa League semi-finals against Tottenham—who eliminated Austrian side Sturm Graz in the final round.

The other story is that of Kairat Almaty, an Azerbaijani club located about 300 kilometers from the Chinese border. If they are Barça's away opponent, Hansi Flick's team would have to travel more than nine hours, almost the same as traveling to Miami. Quite an odyssey. Finally, the third team to debut in the Champions League phase is Paphos of Cyprus, coached by Spaniard Juan Carlos Carcedo.

How are the drums defined?

Drum 1: PSG, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund and Barça.

Drum 2: Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, Atlético de Madrid, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus, Eintracht Frankfurt, Club Brugge and Benfica.

Drum 3: PSV, Ajax, Naples, Sporting de Portugal, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Bodo/Glimt, Olympique de Marseille and Tottenham. 

Drum 4: Monaco, Galatasaray, Union Saint-Gilloise, Athletic Club, Newcastle, Paphos, Kairat Almaty, Qarabag and Copenhagen.

Where can I watch the draw?

The 2025-26 UEFA Champions League draw can be watched live on Movistar Plus and Movistar Liga de Campeones starting at 6 p.m.