◤UEFA Champions League - League Phase Draw◢ Trent Alexander-Arnold and Hugo Ekitike to face off against former sides as Liverpool will play against Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt..
2025-08-29 07:16
The draw for the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League League Phase was held in Monaco on Thursday, with many players will be facing off their former sides.
Continuing with the format of last season, this season's Champions League will completely abandon the old group stage format and stick with the Swiss-format League Phase.
The 36 participating clubs are divided into four pots, each with nine teams. Each clubs will play eight different clubs, including four home and four away games. The opponents and home and away match distribution are determined entirely by the draw.
After eight rounds of matches, the top eight clubs will advance directly to the round of 16s. Clubs ranked 9th to 24th will play a two-legged playoff match to determine the remaining eight round of 16s spots.
Clubs from the same country cannot draw each other in the League Phase. Each club might be drawn against a maximum of two clubs from the same country as opponents in the League Phase.
Unlike previous editions, this year's Champions League marks the first time in recent history that no Ukrainian Premier League clubs will participate. This also marks the first time that defending Scottish Premiership champion Celtic have missed out on the opportunity to participate.
The Bhoys recently lost 2-3 on aggregate to first-timer Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan in the qualifying round, missing out on this season's Champions League and instead entering the Europa League.
Brighton's sister club, Union Saint-Gilloise, has become the latest Jupiler Pro League club to reach the Champions League proper.
Similarly, Bodø/Glimt, who upset Roma twice in the UEFA Conference League several years ago, became the first Norwegian Eliteserien club to reach the Champions League proper since Rosenborg.
UEFA invited two former AC Milan legends, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Kaká, to be guests of honour at the draw ceremony.
Before the draw ceremony officially began, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin presented a special award to Chelsea, winners of the Club World Cup two months prior.
The most anticipated match of this Champions League season is the defending Premier League champions Liverpool, who will face Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt.
This means Trent Alexander-Arnold will face Liverpool for the first time since leaving his boyhood club two months ago.
Hugo Ekitike will also face Frankfurt for the first time since joining the Reds for a record-breaking transfer fee this summer.
Another highly anticipated matchup will see Napoli face Chelsea and Manchester City.
Kevin De Bruyne will face the two Premier League giants he played for for many years for the first time as I Partenopei's player.
Due to the UEFA coefficient ranking, this year's Champions League was originally scheduled to have five Premier League clubs participating, but Tottenham Hotspur secured an extra spot after winning the Europa League.
The full Champions League fixture list for this season will be released this Saturday.
The following is a list of Premier League clubs' opponents in this season's Champions League:
Liverpool: Real Madrid (home), Inter Milan (away), Atlético Madrid (home), Eintracht Frankfurt (away), PSV Eindhoven (home), Marseille (away), Qarabag (home), Galatasaray (away)
Arsenal: Bayern Munich (home), Inter Milan (away), Atlético Madrid (home), Club Brugge (away), Olympiacos (home), Slavia Prague (away), Kairat Almaty (home), Athletic Bilbao (away)
Manchester City: Borrusia Dortmund (home), Real Madrid (away), Bayer Leverkusen (home), Villarreal (away), Napoli (home), Bodø/Glimt (away), Galatasaray (home), AS Monaco (away)
Chelsea: Bayern Munich (home), Barcelona (away), Benfica (home), Atalanta (away), Ajax (home), Napoli (away), Pafos (home), Qarabag (away)
Tottenham Hotspur: Dortmund (home), Paris Saint-Germain (away), Villarreal (home), Eintracht Frankfurt (away), Slavia Prague (home), Bodø/Glimt (away), Copenhagen (home), Monaco (away)
Newcastle United: Barcelona (home), Paris Saint-Germain (away), Benfica (home), Bayer Leverkusen (away), PSV Eindhoven (home), Marseille (away), Athletic Bilbao (home), Union Saint-Gilloise (away)
