The UEFA Champions League Trophy
Paris St-Germain (PSG) will face Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and Tottenham Hotspur in the preliminary round of their title defence at the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League (UCL).
The draw for the new UCL season was held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Thursday.
The new UCL season follows a similar structure to the league format introduced last season for the preliminary stage of the competition.
All 36 participating clubs will play eight matches, comprising four home and four away games, and the pairings were determined through a digitally conducted draw.
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WHO WILL SOME OF THE HEAVYWEIGHTS PLAY
Manchester City: Borussia Dortmund (home), Real Madrid (away), Bayer Leverkusen (home), Villarreal (away), Napoli (home), Bodo/Glimt (away), Galatasaray (home), and Monaco (away).
Paris St-Germain: Bayern Munich (home), Barcelona (away), Atalanta (home), Bayer Leverkusen (away), Tottenham Hotspur (home), Sporting (away), Newcastle United (home) and Athletic Club (away).
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Liverpool: Real Madrid (home), Inter Milan (away), Atletico Madrid (home), Eintracht Frankfurt (away), PSV Eindhoven (home), Marseille (away), Qarabag (home) and Galatasaray (away).
Barcelona: Paris St-Germain (home), Chelsea (away), Eintracht Frankfurt (home), Club Brugge (away), Olympiacos (home), Slavia Prague (away), Copenhagen (home), Newcastle United (away).
Arsenal: Bayern Munich (home), Inter Milan (away), Atletico Madrid (home), Club Brugge (away), Olympiacos (home), Slavia Prague (away), Kairat Almaty (home) and Athletic Bilbao (away).
Inter Milan: Liverpool (home), Borrusia Dortmund (away), Arsenal (home), Atletico Madrid (away), Slavia Prague (home), Ajax (away), Kairat Almaty (home) and Union SG (away).
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Chelsea: Barcelona (home), Bayern Munich (away), Benfica (home), Atalanta (away), Ajax (home), Napoli (away), Pafos (home) and Qarabag (away).
Bayern Munich: Chelsea (home), Paris St-Germain (away), Club Brugge (home), Arsenal (away), Sporting (home), PSV (away), Union SG (home) and Pafos (away).
Real Madrid: Manchester City (home), Liverpool (away), Juventus (home), Benfica (away), Marseille (home), Olympiacos (away), Monaco (home), and Kairat Almaty (away).
Tottenham: Borussia Dortmund (home), Paris St-Germain (away), Villarreal (home), Eintracht Frankfurt (away), Slavia Prague (home), Bodo/Glimt (away) Copenhagen (home) and Monaco (away).
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Juventus: Borussia Dortmund (home), Real Madrid (away), Benfica (home), Villarreal (away), Sporting (home), Bogo Glimt (away), Pafos (home) and Monaco (away).
Bayer Leverkusen: Paris St-Germain (home), Manchester City (away), Villarreal (home), Benfica (away), PSV Eindhoven (home), Olympiacos (away), Newcastle (home) and Copenhagen (away).
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Galatasaray: Liverpool (home), Manchester City (away), Atletico Madrid (home), Eintracht Frankfurt (away), Bodo/Glimt (home), Ajax (away), Union SG (home) and Monaco (away).
HOW TEAMS QUALIFY FOR KNOCKOUT ROUNDS
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The top eight teams from the league format automatically qualify for the round of 16 stage.
Also, teams placed 9th to 24th will face each other in a playoff format to determine which of the other eight teams will advance to the knockout stage.
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Teams ranked from 9th to 14th will be seeded. They have the advantage of hosting the second leg at home against teams that finish between 15th and 24th on the table.
The clubs outside the top 24 will be eliminated from the competition.
WHEN WILL NEW UCL START?
The order of the matches has not yet been fixed despite the teams knowing all of their opponents. UEFA will elaborate on the fixture order on Saturday.
However, the UCL preliminary round will hold from September 16, 2025, to January 28, 2026.
