2025–26 UEFA Champions League
 The Puskás Aréna in Budapest will host the final | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | Qualifying: 8 July – 27 August 2025 Competition proper: 16 September 2025 – 30 May 2026 |
| Teams | Competition proper: 36 Total: 81 (from 53 associations) |
← 2024–25 2026–27 → | |
The 2025–26 UEFA Champions League will be the 71st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 34th season since it was rebranded from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
The final will be played on 30 May 2026 at Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary.[1] The winners of the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League will automatically qualify for the 2026–27 UEFA Champions League league phase, the 2026 FIFA Intercontinental Cup finals, the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup group stage, and earn the right to play against the winners of the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League in the 2026 UEFA Super Cup.
Association team allocation
[edit]A total of 83 teams from 53 of the 55 UEFA member associations are set to participate in the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League (the exceptions being Liechtenstein which does not organise a domestic league and Russia which is currently suspended). The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[2]
- Associations 1–5 each have four teams.
- Association 6 has three teams.
- Associations 7–15 each have two teams.
- Associations 16–55 (except Liechtenstein[Note LIE] and Russia[Note RUS]) each have one team.
- The winners of the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League and 2024–25 UEFA Europa League are each given an additional entry if they do not qualify for the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League through their domestic league.
- The two associations with the best coefficients in the 2024–25 season will each have one European Performance Spot into the league phase. The winners of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League cannot fill the European Performance Spots.
Association ranking
[edit]For the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2024 UEFA association coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2019–20 to 2023–24.[3] The table reflects Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA.
Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, associations may have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:
- (EPS) – European Performance Spot, the additional berths for associations who finish in the top 2 of the 2024–25 association coefficients
- (TH) – Additional berth for UEFA Champions League title holders
- (EL) – Additional berth for UEFA Europa League title holders
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Distribution
[edit]| Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from the previous round | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| First qualifying round (30 teams) |
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| Second qualifying round (30 teams) |
Champions Path (24 teams) |
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| League Path (6 teams) |
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| Third qualifying round (20 teams) |
Champions Path (12 teams) |
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| League Path (8 teams) |
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| Play-off round (14 teams) |
Champions Path (10 teams) |
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| League Path (4 teams) |
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| League stage (36 teams) |
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| Knockout phase play-offs (16 teams) |
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| Round of 16 (16 teams) |
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The information here reflects the ongoing suspension of Russia in European football, and so the following changes to the default access list have been made:
- The champions of associations 23 (Cyprus) and 24 (Hungary) will enter the second qualifying round (Champions Path) instead of the first qualifying round.
Teams
[edit]The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
- TH: Champions League title holders
- EL: Europa League title holders
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.: League positions of the previous season
- EPS: European Performance Spots – the additional berths given to clubs from the two associations with the highest coefficient points in 2024–25
The second qualifying round, third qualifying round and play-off round are divided into Champions Path (CH) and League Path (LP).
- ^ Liechtenstein (LIE): The seven teams affiliated with the Liechtenstein Football Association (LFV) all play in the Swiss football league system. The only competition organised by the LFV is the Liechtenstein Football Cup – the winners of which qualify for the UEFA Conference League for the 2025–26 season.
- ^ Netherlands (NED): Ajax have qualified as they will finish in the top three of the 2024–25 Eredivisie.
- ^ Portugal (POR): Benfica and Sporting CP have qualified as they will finish in the top two of the 2024–25 Primeira Liga.
- ^ Russia (RUS): On 28 February 2022, Russian football clubs and national teams were suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[4] The tables reflect Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA competitions.[5]
- ^ Turkey (TUR): Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe have qualified as they will finish in the top two of the 2024–25 Süper Lig.
Round and draw dates
[edit]The schedule of the competition is as follows.[6] One "exclusive week" will be held in which Thursday will also be a matchday.[7][8] All matches in other weeks will be played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays apart from Matchday 8 (Wednesday only) and the final.
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | First qualifying round | 17 June 2025 | 8–9 July 2025 | 15–16 July 2025 |
| Second qualifying round | 18 June 2025 | 22–23 July 2025 | 29–30 July 2025 | |
| Third qualifying round | 21 July 2025 | 5–6 August 2025 | 12 August 2025 | |
| Play-offs | Play-off round | 4 August 2025 | 19–20 August 2025 | 26–27 August 2025 |
| League phase | Matchday 1 | 28 August 2025 | 16–18 September 2025 | |
| Matchday 2 | 30 September – 1 October 2025 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 21–22 October 2025 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 4–5 November 2025 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 25–26 November 2025 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 9–10 December 2025 | |||
| Matchday 7 | 20–21 January 2026 | |||
| Matchday 8 | 28 January 2026 | |||
| Knockout phase | Knockout phase play-offs | 30 January 2026 | 17–18 February 2026 | 24–25 February 2026 |
| Round of 16 | 27 February 2026 | 10–11 March 2026 | 17–18 March 2026 | |
| Quarter-finals | 7–8 April 2026 | 14–15 April 2026 | ||
| Semi-finals | 28–29 April 2026 | 5–6 May 2026 | ||
| Final | 30 May 2026 at Puskás Aréna, Budapest | |||
Qualifying rounds
[edit]First qualifying round
[edit]The draw for the first qualifying round will be held on 17 June 2025.
Seeding
[edit]A total of 30 teams will play in the first qualifying round. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients.[9] Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
| Seeded | To be confirmed | Unseeded |
|---|---|---|
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Second qualifying round
[edit]The draw for the second qualifying round will be held on 18 June 2025.
Seeding
[edit]A total of 30 teams will play in the second qualifying round. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients.[9] Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
| Seeded | To be confirmed | Unseeded |
|---|---|---|
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| Seeded | To be confirmed | Unseeded |
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Third qualifying round
[edit]The draw for the third qualifying round will be held on 21 July 2025.
Seeding
[edit]A total of 20 teams will play in the third qualifying round. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients.[9] Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
| Qualified teams |
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| Qualified teams |
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Play-off round
[edit]The draw for the play-off round will be held on 4 August 2025.
Seeding
[edit]A total of 14 teams will play in the play-off round. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients.[9] Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
| Qualified teams |
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| Qualified teams |
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League phase
[edit]
The league phase draw for the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League takes place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on 28 August 2025. The 36 teams will be divided into four pots of nine teams each based on their UEFA club coefficient, except for the Champions League title holders, who are automatically placed as the top seed in pot 1.
The 36 teams will be manually drawn and then automated software will draw their eight different opponents at random, determining which of their matches are at home and which ones away. Each team faces two opponents from each of the four pots, one at home and one away. Teams cannot face opponents from their own association, and can only be drawn against a maximum of two sides from the same association.[10]
The following teams have qualified for the league phase:
Barcelona
Bayer Leverkusen- Bayern Munich
Liverpool
Napoli
Paris Saint-Germain- Real Madrid
Slavia Prague
See also
[edit]- 2025–26 UEFA Europa League
- 2025–26 UEFA Conference League
- 2025 UEFA Super Cup
- 2025–26 UEFA Women's Champions League
- 2025–26 UEFA Women's Europa Cup
- 2025–26 UEFA Youth League
References
[edit]- ^ "Budapest to host UEFA Champions League Final 2026". Union of European Football Associations. 22 May 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
- ^ "Regulations of the UEFA Champions League, 2024/25 Season". Nyon: UEFA. 2024. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ "Association coefficients 2023/24". UEFA. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
- ^ "Ukraine crisis: Fifa and Uefa suspend all Russian clubs and national teams". BBC.co.uk. British Broadcasting Corporation. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
- ^ "UEFA decisions for upcoming competitions relating to the ongoing suspension of Russian national teams and clubs. However this could change depending on what happens" (Press release). Nyon: UEFA. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ^ "UEFA club competitions cycle 2024–27 ("Post 2024")". UEFA Circular Letter. No. 36/2023. Union of European Football Associations. 7 July 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- ^ Sheldon, Dan (16 May 2023). "How the new Champions League format works". The Athletic. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- ^ "More national derby games possible when revamped Champions League starts next year". AP News. 10 July 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Club coefficients". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 29 March 2025. Retrieved 30 March 2025.
- ^ "UEFA Club Competitions 2024/25 onwards: new league phase draw procedures explained". UEFA. 31 July 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2024.