2025–26 UEFA Champions League

The 2025–26 UEFA Champions League is the 71st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 34th season since it was rebranded from the European Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Paris Saint-Germain are the defending champions, having secured their maiden title the previous season.

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: 82 (from 53 associations)
← 2024–25 2026-27 →

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.

This is the first Champions League season to feature six clubs from one nation, with England earning an extra spot through UEFA coefficient ranking and Tottenham Hotspur having won the previous season's Europa League.^[2]

Association team allocation

A total of 82 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:^[3]

• 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

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.^[4] 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

Association ranking for 2025–26 UEFA Champions League

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 1  England 104.303 4 +1 (EPS) +1 (EL) 2  Italy 90.284 3  Spain 89.489 +1 (EPS) 4  Germany 86.624 5  France 66.831 6  Netherlands 61.300 3 7  Portugal 56.316 2 8  Belgium 48.800 9  Turkey 38.600 10  Czech Republic 36.050 11  Scotland 36.050 12  Switzerland 32.975 13  Austria 32.600 14  Norway 31.625 15  Greece 31.525 16  Denmark 31.450 1 17  Israel 31.125 18  Ukraine 28.000 19  Serbia 27.775

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 20  Croatia 25.525 1 21  Poland 25.375 22  Russia 22.965 0 [Note RUS] 23  Cyprus 22.100 1 24  Hungary 21.875 25  Sweden 21.500 26  Romania 21.375 27  Bulgaria 20.375 28  Azerbaijan 20.125 29  Slovakia 19.625 30  Slovenia 13.250 31  Moldova 13.125 32  Kosovo 11.541 33  Kazakhstan 11.500 34  Finland 11.125 35  Republic of Ireland 10.875 36  Armenia 10.625 37  Latvia 10.625 38  Faroe Islands 10.375

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 39  Bosnia and Herzegovina 10.000 1 40  Liechtenstein 10.000 0 [Note LIE] 41  Iceland 9.583 1 42  Northern Ireland 9.208 43  Luxembourg 8.625 44  Lithuania 8.500 45  Malta 8.250 46  Georgia 7.625 47  Albania 7.375 48  Estonia 7.207 49  Belarus 6.625 50  North Macedonia 6.000 51  Andorra 5.998 52  Wales 5.791 53  Montenegro 5.708 54  Gibraltar 4.957 55  San Marino 1.832

Distribution

		Teams entering in this round	Teams advancing from the previous round
First qualifying round (28 teams)		28 champions from associations 25–27 and 30–55 (except Liechtenstein)[Note LIE]
Second qualifying round (30 teams)	Champions Path (24 teams)	8 champions from associations 16–24 (except Russia)[Note RUS] 2 champions from associations 28 and 29 as the teams with the highest club coefficients, originally from the first qualification round	14 winners from the first qualifying round
	League Path (6 teams)	6 runners-up from associations 10–15
Third qualifying round (20 teams)	Champions Path (12 teams)		12 winners from the second qualifying round (Champions Path)
	League Path (8 teams)	3 runners-up from associations 7–9 1 third-placed team from association 6 1 fourth-placed team from association 5	3 winners from the second qualifying round (League Path)
Play-off round (14 teams)	Champions Path (10 teams)	4 champions from associations 11–14	6 winners from the third qualifying round (Champions Path)
	League Path (4 teams)		4 winners from the third qualifying round (League Path)
League phase (36 teams)		UEFA Europa League title holders 2 associations with the highest coefficients from the previous season receive an extra Champions League league phase berth. 10 champions from associations 1–10 6 runners-up from associations 1–6 5 third-placed teams from associations 1–5 4 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–4 1 champion from association 15 as the team with the highest club coefficient, originally from the second round of the Champions Path	5 winners from the play-off round (Champions Path) 2 winners from the play-off round (League Path)
Knockout phase play-offs (16 teams)			16 teams ranked 9–24 from the league phase
Round of 16 (16 teams)			8 teams ranked 1–8 from the league phase 8 winners from the knockout phase play-offs

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.

As the Champions League title holders (Paris Saint-Germain) qualified via their domestic league's standard berth allocation, the following changes to the default access list have been made:

• Olympiacos as the club with the highest club coefficient that would otherwise have entered the Champions Path of the qualifying phase or play-off round, will enter the league phase instead of the Champions Path second qualifying round.
• Slovan Bratislava and Qarabağ, as the two clubs with the highest club coefficient that would otherwise have entered the Champions Path first qualifying round, will enter the Champions Path second qualifying round.

Teams

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 label of European Performance Spots and title holders already qualified via league position are superscripted.

The second qualifying round, third qualifying round and play-off round are divided into Champions Path (CH) and League Path (LP).

Qualified teams for 2025–26 UEFA Champions League

Entry round		Teams
League phase		Paris Saint-Germain (1st)TH	Tottenham Hotspur (EL)	Liverpool (1st)	Arsenal (2nd)
		Manchester City (3rd)	Chelsea (4th)	Newcastle United (5th)EPS	Napoli (1st)
		Inter Milan (2nd)	Atalanta (3rd)	Juventus (4th)	Barcelona (1st)
		Real Madrid (2nd)	Atlético Madrid (3rd)	Athletic Bilbao (4th)	Villarreal (5th)EPS
		Bayern Munich (1st)	Bayer Leverkusen (2nd)	Eintracht Frankfurt (3rd)	Borussia Dortmund (4th)
		Marseille (2nd)	Monaco (3rd)	PSV Eindhoven (1st)	Ajax (2nd)
		Sporting CP (1st)	Union Saint-Gilloise (1st)	Galatasaray (1st)	Slavia Prague (1st)
		Olympiacos (1st)
Play-off round	CH	Celtic (1st)	Basel (1st)	Sturm Graz (1st)	Bodø/Glimt (1st)
Third qualifying round	LP	Nice (4th)	Feyenoord (3rd)	Benfica (2nd)	Club Brugge (2nd)
		Fenerbahçe (2nd)
Second qualifying round	CH	Copenhagen (1st)	Maccabi Tel Aviv (1st)	Dynamo Kyiv (1st)	Red Star Belgrade (1st)
		Rijeka (1st)	Lech Poznań (1st)	Pafos (1st)	Ferencváros (1st)
		Qarabağ (1st)	Slovan Bratislava (1st)
	LP	Viktoria Plzeň (2nd)	Rangers (2nd)	Servette (2nd)	Red Bull Salzburg (2nd)
		Brann (2nd)	Panathinaikos (2nd)
First qualifying round	CH	Malmö FF (1st)	FCSB (1st)	Ludogorets Razgrad (1st)	Olimpija Ljubljana (1st)
		Milsami Orhei (1st)	Drita (1st)	Kairat (1st)	KuPS (1st)
		Shelbourne (1st)	Noah (1st)	RFS (1st)	Víkingur Gøta (1st)
		Zrinjski Mostar (1st)	Breiðablik (1st)	Linfield (1st)	Differdange 03 (1st)
		Žalgiris (1st)	Hamrun Spartans (1st)	Iberia 1999 (1st)	Egnatia (1st)
		Levadia Tallinn (1st)	Dinamo Minsk (1st)	Shkëndija (1st)	Inter Club d'Escaldes (1st)
		The New Saints (1st)	Budućnost Podgorica (1st)	Lincoln Red Imps (1st)	Virtus (1st)

1. ^
   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.
2. ^
   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.^[5] The tables reflect Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA competitions.^[6]

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows.^[7] One "exclusive week" will be held in which Thursday will also be a matchday.^[8][9] All matches in other weeks will be played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays apart from Matchday 8 (Wednesday only) and the final.

Schedule for 2025–26 UEFA Champions League

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

Main article: 2025–26 UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds

First qualifying round

The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 17 June 2025. The first legs were played on 8 and 9 July, and the second legs were played on 15 and 16 July 2025.

The winners of the ties advanced to the Champions Path second qualifying round. Twelve of the losing teams were transferred to the Conference League Champions Path second qualifying round, and the other two losing teams (selected via a draw) were transferred to the Conference League Champions Path third qualifying round.

First qualifying round

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Žalgiris	2–2 (10–11 p)	Hamrun Spartans	2–0	0–2 (a.e.t.)
KuPS	1–0	Milsami Orhei	1–0	0–0
The New Saints	1–2	Shkëndija	0–0	1–2 (a.e.t.)
Iberia 1999	2–6	Malmö FF	1–3	1–3
FCI Levadia	0–2	RFS	0–1	0–1
Drita	4–2	Differdange 03	1–0	3–2
Víkingur Gøta	2–4	Lincoln Red Imps	2–3	0–1
Egnatia	1–5	Breiðablik	1–0	0–5
Shelbourne	2–1	Linfield	1–0	1–1
FCSB	4–3	Inter Club d'Escaldes	3–1	1–2
Virtus	1–4	Zrinjski Mostar	0–2	1–2
Olimpija Ljubljana	1–3	Kairat	1–1	0–2
Noah	3–2	Budućnost Podgorica	1–0	2–2
Ludogorets Razgrad	3–2	Dinamo Minsk	1–0	2–2 (a.e.t.)

Second qualifying round

The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 18 June 2025. The first legs were played on 22 and 23 July, and the second legs were played on 29 and 30 July 2025.

The winners of the ties advanced to the third qualifying round. The losers were transferred to the Europa League third qualifying round.

Second qualifying round

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Champions Path
RFS	1–5	Malmö FF	1–4	0–1
Hamrun Spartans	0–6	Dynamo Kyiv	0–3	0–3
Pafos	2–1	Maccabi Tel Aviv	1–1	1–0
Lincoln Red Imps	1–6	Red Star Belgrade	0–1	1–5
Noah	4–6	Ferencváros	1–2	3–4
Lech Poznań	8–1	Breiðablik	7–1	1–0
Copenhagen	3–0	Drita	2–0	1–0
Rijeka	1–3	Ludogorets Razgrad	0–0	1–3 (a.e.t.)
Shkëndija	3–1	FCSB	1–0	2–1
Slovan Bratislava	6–2	Zrinjski Mostar	4–0	2–2
Shelbourne	0–4	Qarabağ	0–3	0–1
KuPS	2–3	Kairat	2–0	0–3
League Path
Brann	2–5	Red Bull Salzburg	1–4	1–1
Viktoria Plzeň	3–2	Servette	0–1	3–1
Rangers	3–1	Panathinaikos	2–0	1–1

Third qualifying round

The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 21 July 2025. The first legs were played on 5 and 6 August, and the second legs were played on 12 August 2025.

The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round. The losers of the Champions Path were transferred to the Europa League play-off round. The losers of the League Path were transferred to the Europa League league phase.

Third qualifying round

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Champions Path
Malmö FF	0–5	Copenhagen	0–0	0–5
Kairat	1–1 (4–3 p)	Slovan Bratislava	1–0	0–1 (a.e.t.)
Lech Poznań	2–4	Red Star Belgrade	1–3	1–1
Ludogorets Razgrad	0–3	Ferencváros	0–0	0–3
Dynamo Kyiv	0–3	Pafos	0–1	0–2
Shkëndija	1–6	Qarabağ	0–1	1–5
League Path
Red Bull Salzburg	2–4	Club Brugge	0–1	2–3
Rangers	4–2	Viktoria Plzeň	3–0	1–2
Nice	0–4	Benfica	0–2	0–2
Feyenoord	4–6	Fenerbahçe	2–1	2–5

Play-off round

Main article: 2025–26 UEFA Champions League play-off round

The draw for the play-off round was held on 4 August 2025. The first legs will be played on 19 and 20 August, and the second legs will be played on 26 and 27 August 2025.

The winners of the ties will advance to the league phase. The losers will be transferred to the Europa League league phase.

Play-off round

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Champions Path
Ferencváros	Match 1	Qarabağ	1–3	27 Aug
Red Star Belgrade	Match 2	Pafos	1–2	26 Aug
Bodø/Glimt	Match 3	Sturm Graz	20 Aug	26 Aug
Celtic	Match 4	Kairat	20 Aug	26 Aug
Basel	Match 5	Copenhagen	20 Aug	27 Aug
League Path
Fenerbahçe	Match 1	Benfica	20 Aug	27 Aug
Rangers	Match 2	Club Brugge	1–3	27 Aug

League phase

Slavia

Liverpool

Man City

Newcastle

London

PSG

Marseille

Monaco

Leverkusen

Bayern

Dortmund

Frankfurt

Olympiacos

Atalanta

Napoli

Inter

Juventus

Sporting

Athletic

Barcelona

Madrid

Villarreal

Galatasaray

London teams
Arsenal
Chelsea
Tottenham Hotspur

Madrid teams
Atlético Madrid
Real Madrid

Location of teams of the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League league phase

Union SG

Ajax

PSV

Location of Benelux teams of the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League league phase.

The league phase draw for the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League will take 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]

Union Saint-Gilloise will make their debut appearance in the league phase/group stage. This is the first season since 2005–06 to not feature a Ukrainian club in the league phase/group stage.

As of 25 May 2025, 29/36 teams have qualified for the league phase:

Pot 1 (TH) Paris Saint-Germain CC: 118.500 (1) Real Madrid CC: 143.500 (2) Manchester City CC: 137.750 (3) Bayern Munich CC: 135.250 (4) Liverpool CC: 125.500 (6) Inter Milan CC: 116.250 (7) Chelsea CC: 109.000 (8) Borussia Dortmund CC: 106.750 (10) Barcelona CC: 103.250

Pot 2 (12) Arsenal CC: 98.000 (13) Bayer Leverkusen CC: 95.250 (14) Atlético Madrid CC: 93.500 (16) Atalanta CC: 82.000 (17) Villarreal CC: 82.000 (22) Juventus CC: 74.250 (23) Eintracht Frankfurt CC: 74.000

Pot 2/3 (27) Tottenham Hotspur CC: 70.250 Pot 3 (28) PSV Eindhoven CC: 69.250 (30) Ajax CC: 67.250 (34) Napoli CC: 61.000 (35) Sporting CP CC: 59.000 (37) Olympiacos CC: 56.500 (42) Slavia Prague CC: 51.000 (44) Marseille CC: 48.000

Pot 3/4 (54) Monaco CC: 41.000 Pot 4 (58) Galatasaray CC: 38.250 (61) Union Saint-Gilloise CC: 36.000 (75) Athletic Bilbao CC: 26.750 (83) Newcastle United CC: 23.039

See also

• 2025–26 UEFA Europa League
• 2025–26 UEFA Conference League
• 2026 UEFA Super Cup
• 2025–26 UEFA Women's Champions League
• 2025–26 UEFA Women's Europa Cup
• 2025–26 UEFA Youth League