In late August 2025, Europe's most prestigious club competition entered a new era with its revamped format, heralding a draw ceremony and fixtures schedule that redefined the Road to the final.
On Thursday, 28 August 2025, the league-phase draw took place at the Grimaldi
Forum in Monaco, beginning at 18:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST).
The event employed a hybrid manual-automated selection process, where each drawn team’s opponents were chosen via computer upon pressing a button, ensuring two opponents from each of the four seeding pots—one to be played at home and the other away.
Strict rules were in place to prevent more than two clashes with sides from the same national association .
This draw marked another key moment in football history as UEFA introduced a special award for Chelsea. Celebrated for becoming the first club to win every major UEFA competition, they were honored during the draw by UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin. The award recognized their collection of Champions League, Europa League, Conference League, and Cup Winners’ Cup trophies .
The draw revealed fixtures for
36 teams across Europe,
each slated to play eight league-phase matches
four at home and four away
against distinct opponents drawn from the four pots . UEFA scheduled the full match calendar from September 2025 through January 2026.
with the final to be held at Budapest’s Puskás Aréna on 30 May 2026 .
Matchdays were barricaded across specific dates to allow clubs and fans to plan ahead.
Matchday 1 fell on 16–18 September 2025, followed by
Matchday 2 on 30 September–1 October.
Matchday 3 on 21–22 October.
Matchday 4 on 4–5 November,
Matchday 5 on 25–26 November,
Matchday 6 on 9–10 December,
Matchday 7 on 20–21 January 2026, and
Matchday 8 on 28 January 2026 .
Kickoff times replicated the previous season’s rhythm,
with early and prime-time slots.
Fixtures were scheduled to start at 12:55 p.m. ET / 5:45 p.m. UK, or 3 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. UK .
In Central Europe, this aligns with usual UEFA windows of 18:45 and 21:00 CET/CEST .
UEFA confirmed that the full fixture schedule
including exact dates and kickoff times
was released on Saturday, 30 August 2025 .
The draw delivered headline matchups for some of Europe’s biggest clubs. Among them,
Liverpool were paired with Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, Eintracht Frankfurt, PSV Eindhoven, Marseille, Qarabağ, and Galatasaray .
Manchester City’s path includes Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Villarreal, Napoli, Bodø/Glimt, Galatasaray, and Monaco .
Arsenal will take on Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Club Brugge, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Kairat Almaty, and Athletic Bilbao .
Chelsea’s opponents are Barcelona, Bayern, Benfica, Atalanta, Ajax, Napoli, Pafos, and Qarabağ .
From Spain’s perspective, Real Madrid face Manchester City, Liverpool, Juventus, Benfica, Marseille, Olympiacos, Monaco, and Kairat Almaty .
Barcelona’s schedule includes Chelsea, PSG, Eintracht Frankfurt, Club Brugge, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Copenhagen, and Newcastle United .
Meanwhile, PSG drew a formidable group against Chelsea, Man City, Eintracht Frankfurt, Benfica, Sporting CP, PSV, Qarabağ, and Copenhagen .
Italian clubs also face stern tests:
Inter Milan will play Liverpool, Dortmund, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Slavia Prague, Ajax, Kairat Almaty, and Union Saint-Gilloise .
Juventus were drawn against Dortmund, Real Madrid, Benfica, Villarreal, Sporting CP, Bodø/Glimt, Pafos, and Monaco .
Other notable fixtures include Dortmund meeting Inter Milan, Man City, Villarreal, Juventus, Bodo/Glimt, Spurs, Athletic Club Bilbao, and Copenhagen .
Tottenham are scheduled against Dortmund, PSG, Villarreal, Eintracht Frankfurt, Slavia Prague, Bodo/Glimt, Copenhagen, and Monaco .
On the logistics front, the league phase adopted format protections: teams could not be drawn against same-country opponents more than twice, and domestic rivals were excluded from occuring at all in the draw. The sequence began
with Pot 1 and continued through Pots 2, 3, and 4 to populate each team’s eight opponents .
This fresh format replaced the previous group-stage setup and moved to a single-table “league phase” akin to the Swiss-system.
It expanded participation to 36 teams, each contesting eight unique opponents . The top eight in this league phase qualify directly to the Round of 16; teams placing 9th to 24th enter a knockout playoff; and those finishing 25th to 36th are eliminated outright .
The schedule beyond the league phase was set. The knockout-playoff draw takes place on 30 January 2026,
with ties scheduled for 17–18 February (first legs)
and 24–25 February (second legs).
The Round of 16 draw follows on 27 February 2026,
with legs held on 10–11 March and 17–18 March.
The quarter-finals span 7–8 April and 14–15 April, semi-finals 28–29 April and 5–6 May, culminating in the final in Budapest on 30 May 2026 .
In sum, the 2025/26 Champions League journey ignited with a grand draw event on 28 August in Monaco, complete with a ceremonial award for Chelsea, unveiling an eight-match, single-table league-phase format running from September to January.
The fixtures featured headline clashes among Europe’s elite, with kickoff times aligned to familiar early and prime-time slots, and the knockout rounds laid out with precision
leading fans, clubs, and pundits toward the dramatic final in Budapest at the end of May 2026.
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