The2025–26 UEFA Champions League is the 71st season of Europe's premier clubfootball tournament organised byUEFA, and the 34th season since it was rebranded from theEuropean Cup to theUEFA Champions League.Paris Saint-Germain are the defending champions, having secured their maiden title the previous season.
A total of 82 teams from 53 of the 55UEFA member associations are set to participate in the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League (the exceptions beingLiechtenstein which does not organise a domestic league andRussia which is currently suspended). The association ranking based on theUEFA association coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[5]
The two associations with the bestcoefficients 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.
For the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2024UEFA association coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2019–20 to 2023–24.[6] 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 the2024–25 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
2 associations with thehighest 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.
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 andQarabağ, 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.
Russia (RUS): On 28 February 2022, Russian football clubs and national teams were suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions due to theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[7] The tables reflect Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA competitions.[8]
The schedule of the competition is as follows.[9] One "exclusive week" was held in which Thursday was also a matchday.[10][11] All matches in other weeks will be played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays apart from Matchday 8 (Wednesday only) and the final.
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 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 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 theEuropa League play-off round. The losers of the League Path were transferred to theEuropa League league phase.
The draw for the play-off round was held on 4 August 2025.The first legs were played on 19 and 20 August, and the second legs were played on 26 and 27 August 2025.
The winners of the ties advanced to the league phase. The losers were transferred to theEuropa League league phase.
The league phase draw for the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League took place at theGrimaldi Forum inMonaco on 28 August 2025. The 36 teams were divided into four pots of nine teams each based on theirUEFA club coefficient, except for the Champions League title holders, who were automatically placed as the top seed in pot 1.
The 36 teams were manually drawn and then automated software drew their eight different opponents at random, determining which of their matches were at home and which ones away. Each team faced two opponents from each of the four pots, one at home and one away. Teams could not face opponents from their own association, and could only be drawn against a maximum of two sides from the same association.[12]
Bodø/Glimt,Kairat,Pafos andUnion Saint-Gilloise made their debut appearances in the league phase/group stage. Kairat, based inAlmaty, became the easternmost team to ever qualify for the Champions League proper,[13][14] and, after being drawn to play away againstSporting CP, broke the record for the longest trip in UEFA competitions, travelling 4,294 miles (6,911 km) from Almaty toLisbon.[15][16] In addition, Bodø/Glimt, based inBodø within theArctic Circle, became the northernmost European team to ever compete in the Champions League.[17] This marked the first time a Norwegian team participated in the competition proper since the2007–08 season,[18] and was also the first season since2005–06 in which no Ukrainian sides qualified for the group stage/league phase.[19]
A total of 16 national associations were represented in the league phase.
The final matchday on 28 January saw significant movement in the table; Real Madrid fell to 9th place following a 4–2 defeat to Benfica, while Sporting CP secured a direct Round of 16 berth with a late stoppage-time winner against Athletic Club
The top eight ranked teams advanced to the round of 16. The teams ranked from 9th to 24th will compete in the knockout phase play-offs, with the teams ranked from 9th to 16th seeded for the draw. Teams ranked from 25th to 36th were eliminated from all competitions.
In theknockout phase, teams will play against each other overtwo legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. The top eight teams from the final standings in the league phase entered at the round of 16. In the knockout phase, there is no country protection, with teams from the same association able to face each other in any round. Teams can also face opponents they played during the league phase.
The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows:[5]
In the draw for the knockout phase play-offs, the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 9–16 were seeded, and the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 17–24 were unseeded. The draw was split into four sections based on the predetermined bracket, with the seeded teams in each section drawn against one of their two possible unseeded opponents. The seeded teams will host the second leg.
In the draw for the round of 16, the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 1–8 will be seeded, and the eight winners of the knockout phase play-offs will be unseeded. Again, the draw will be split into four sections based on the predetermined bracket, with the seeded teams in each section drawn against one of their two possible unseeded opponents. The seeded teams will host the second leg.
In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, the exact match pairings and order of legs were predetermined based on the tournament bracket. The higher-seeded teams, assuming they advance, will play the second leg of each round at home. Should a seeded team be beaten, the team that eliminates them will assume their seeding position. The winner of semi-final 1 will be designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it is played at a neutral venue).
The draw for the knockout phase play-offs was held on 30 January 2026, 12:00CET.[21]The first legs will be played on 17 and 18 February, and the second legs will be played on 24 and 25 February 2026.[22]
The draw for the round of 16 will be held on 27 February 2026.The first legs will be played on 10 and 11 March, and the second legs will be played on 17 and 18 March 2026.
The final will be played on 30 May 2026 at thePuskás Aréna inBudapest. The winner of semi-final 1 was designated as the "home" team for administrative purposes.