On Thursday, August 28, 2025, UEFA held the draw for this season’s Champions League league phase at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum. With the revamped format now in its second year, the competition moves beyond rigid groups to a single league table featuring 36 clubs, each playing eight distinct opponents two from each of four seeding pots with one match at home and one away.
The top eight teams at the end of the league phase go straight into the Round of 16. Clubs finishing 9th to 24th enter a knockout playoff. Teams placed 25th or lower are eliminated with no Europa League fallback.
Matches are scheduled from mid September 2025 through January 2026.
Liverpool will take on Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Atlético Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt, PSV Eindhoven, Marseille, Qarabağ, and Galatasaray. Manchester City are set to face Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, Villarreal, Napoli, Bodo/Glimt, Galatasaray, and Monaco.
Barcelona will meet PSG, Eintracht Frankfurt, Olympiacos, Copenhagen, Chelsea, Club Brugge, Slavia Prague, and Newcastle.
Across the English teams, Liverpool will host Real Madrid and Inter, among others. Arsenal has Bayern, Inter, and Atlético in its mix. Chelsea is grouped with Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Napoli. Newcastle are in a tough group with PSG, Barcelona, and Benfica.
Matches are starting as early as September 16 to 18 with matchdays running at regular intervals through January 28, 2026.
Big matchups: Liverpool vs. Real Madrid & Inter; City vs. Real Madrid & Dortmund; Barça vs. PSG & Chelsea; Arsenal vs. Bayern; Newcastle vs. PSG & Barcelona.
source : Ghanaweb
