Champions League draw LIVE!
The draw for the league phase of the 2025/26 Champions League is upon us with no fewer than six Premier League teams set to discover their opponents in Monaco this evening. English champions Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City are all placed in pot 1 alongside holders Paris Saint-Germain and the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona, with Arsenal in pot 2 and Europa League winners Tottenham ending their three-year absence from the competition in pot 3.
Newcastle return in pot 4, but there is no Celtic or Rangers this season after they both fell in the last round of qualifying this week. There are four Champions League debutants among the 36 teams involved in Bodo/Glimt, Pafos, Union Saint-Gilloise and Kairat Almaty, with each club set to play eight league phase fixtures in total.
Teams will be drawn by a computer against two sides from each pot, with four matches at home and four away, with matchday 1 coming up next month and the final being held in Budapest in May 2026. Follow the Champions League draw live below!
Champions League draw latest news
- Start time: 5pm BST, Monaco
- How to watch: TNT Sports and Uefa
- Confirmed teams and pots
- Draw format explained
- When will fixtures be played?
Champions League draw complete
18:18 , George FloodThat does it for the Champions League league phase draw for 2025/26!
So many headlines from that - not least quick returns to Liverpool and Manchester City respectively for Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kevin De Bruyne.
Arsenal host both Bayern and Atletico in addition to another trip to Inter, Liverpool entertain both Madrid clubs and Real host City.
Chelsea will meet both Barcelona and Bayern from pot 1.
Tottenham face PSG and Dortmund in addition to a rematch with Bodo/Glimt.
Some massive games for Newcastle too, including PSG and Barcelona.
Bring it on!
Kairat Almaty fixtures
18:08 , George FloodReal Madrid, Inter, Club Brugge, Arsenal, Olympiacos, Sporting CP, Pafos, Copenhagen
Copenhagen fixtures
18:08 , George FloodDortmund, Barcelona, Leverkusen, Villarreal, Napoli, Tottenham, Kairat, Qarabag
Pafos fixtures
18:07 , George FloodBayern Munich, Chelsea, Villarreal, Juventus, Slavia Prague, Olympiacos, Monaco, Kairat
Union SG fixtures
18:06 , George FloodInter, Bayern, Atalanta, Atletico, Marseille, PSV, Newcastle, Galatasaray
Newcastle fixtures
18:05 , George FloodBarcelona, PSG, Benfica, Leverkusen, PSV, Marseille, Athletic Club, Union SG
Galatasaray fixtures
18:05 , George FloodLiverpool, Manchester City, Atletico, Frankfurt, Bodo/Glimt, Ajax, Union SG, Monaco
Monaco fixtures
18:04 , George FloodManchester City, Real Madrid, Juventus, Club Brugge, Tottenham, Bodo/Glimt, Galatasaray, Pafos
Qarabag fixtures
18:03 , George FloodChelsea, Liverpool, Frankfurt, Benfica, Ajax, Napoli, Copenhagen, Athletic Club
Athletic Club fixtures
18:03 , George FloodPSG, Dortmund, Arsenal, Atalanta, Sporting CP, Slavia Prague, Qarabag, Newcastle
Pot 4 to finish
18:01 , George FloodGiorgio Marchetti keeps up the blistering pace and that’s pot 3 done.
Now we complete the draw with pot 4, which contains Newcastle and three Champions League debutants in Pafos, Kairat and Union SG.
Napoli fixtures
18:00 , George FloodChelsea, Manchester City, Frankfurt, Benfica, Sporting CP, PSV, Qarabag, Copenhagen
PSV fixtures
17:59 , George FloodBayern Munich, Liverpool, Atletico, Leverkusen, Napoli, Olympiacos, Union SG, Newcastle
Slavia Prague fixtures
17:59 , George FloodBarcelona, Inter, Arsenal, Atalanta, Bodo/Glimt, Tottenham, Athletic Club, Pafos
Ajax fixtures
17:58 , George FloodInter, Chelsea, Benfica, Villarreal, Olympiacos, Marseille, Galatasaray, Qarabag
Olympiacos fixtures
17:57 , George FloodReal Madrid, Barcelona, Leverkusen, Arsenal, PSV, Ajax, Pafos, Kairat
Sporting CP fixtures
17:56 , George FloodPSG, Bayern Munich, Club Brugge, Juventus, Marseille, Napolu, Kairat, Athletic Club
Bodo/Glimt fixtures
17:56 , George FloodManchester City, Dortmund, Juventus, Atletico, Tottenham, Slavia Prague, Monaco, Galatasaray
Tottenham fixtures
17:55 , George FloodDortmund, PSG, Villarreal, Frankfurt, Slavia Prague, Bodo/Glimt, Copenhagen, Monaco
Marseille fixtures
17:54 , George FloodLiverpool, Real Madrid, Atalanta, Club Brugge, Ajax, Sporting CP, Newcastle, Union SG
Zlatan and Kaka have switched roles and it’s on we go...
Pot 3 coming up
17:51 , George FloodThat completes pot 2!
Considering how long it takes to get started, they really whizz through these teams.
Pot 3 on the way to kick off the second half of the draw.
Tottenham’s full list of fixtures coming up...
Villarreal fixtures
17:50 , George FloodManchester City, Dortmund, Juventus, Leverkusen, Ajax, Tottenham, Copenhagen, Pafos
Atletico Madrid fixtures
17:49 , George FloodInter, Liverpool, Frankfurt, Arsenal, Bodo/Glimt, PSV, Union SG, Galatasaray
Juventus fixtures
17:48 , George FloodDortmund, Real Madrid, Benfica, Villarreal, Sporting CP, Bodo/Glimt, Pafos, Monaco
Eintracht Frankfurt fixtures
17:48 , George FloodLiverpool, Barcelona, Atalanta, Atletico Madrid, Tottenham, Napoli, Galatasaray, Qarabag
Club Brugge fixtures
17:47 , George FloodBarcelona, Bayern, Arsenal, Atalanta, Marseille, Sporting CP, Monaco, Kairat
Benfica fixtures
17:46 , George FloodReal Madrid, Chelsea, Leverkusen, Juventus, Napoli, Ajax, Qarabag, Newcastle
Atalanta fixtures
17:45 , George FloodChelsea, PSG, Club Brugge, Frankfurt, Slavia Prague, Marseille, Athletic Club, Union SG
Arsenal fixtures
17:44 , George FloodBayern Munich, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Club Brugge, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Kairat, Athletic Club
Bayer Leverkusen fixtures
17:43 , George FloodPSG, Manchester City, Villarreal, Benfica, PSV, Olympiacos, Newcastle, Copenhagen
Pot 2 coming up
17:42 , George FloodThat does it for pot 1, some blockbuster ties in there - not least Liverpool vs Real Madrid at Anfield again.
Now it’s swiftly on to pot 2, which of course includes Arsenal.
Manchester City fixtures
17:39 , George FloodDortmund, Real Madrid, Leverkusen, Villarreal, Napoli, Bodo/Glimt, Galatasaray, Monaco
PSG fixtures
17:39 , George FloodBayern Munich, Barcelona, Atalanta, Leverkusen, Tottenham, Sporting CP, Newcastle, Athletic Club
Barcelona fixtures
17:38 , George FloodPSG, Chelsea, Frankfurt, Club Brugge, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Copenhagen, Newcastle
Liverpool fixtures
17:37 , George FloodReal Madrid, Inter, Atletico, Frankfurt, PSV, Marseille, Qarabag, Galatasaray
Borussia Dortmund fixtures
17:36 , George FloodInter, Manchester City, Villarreal, Juventus, Bodo/Glimt, Tottenham, Athletic Club, Copenhagen
Inter Milan fixtures
17:35 , George FloodLiverpool, Dortmund, Arsenal, Atletico, Slavia Prague, Ajax, Kairat, Union SG
Real Madrid fixtures
17:34 , George FloodManchester City, Liverpool, Juventus, Benfica, Marseille, Olympiacos, Monaco, Kairat.
Liverpool vs Real Madrid again!
Chelsea fixtures
17:33 , George FloodChelsea get Barcelona, Benfica, Ajax and Pafos at home.
They will travel to Bayern, Atalanta, Napoli and Qarabag.
Chelsea are second out of Pot 1.
We already know they will be away at Bayern.
Bayern Munich fixtures
17:32 , George FloodBayern will play Chelsea (H), PSG (A), Club Brugge (H), Arsenal (A), Sporting CP (H), PSV (A), Union SG (H) and Pafos (A).
What a start!
Champions League draw
17:31 , George FloodFirst out of Pot 1 is German champions Bayern Munich
Here we go
17:29 , George FloodA key point to note is the exact fixture schedule for all teams in the league phase will be confirmed on Saturday.
And with that, it’s finally time for the draw to begin!
We kick off in Pot 1...
Draw coming up
17:24 , George FloodHere comes UEFA’s deputy secretary general and draw specialist Giorgio Marchetti.
We should finally be underway after a technical explanation.
Here comes Kaka
17:21 , George FloodNow it’s time to introduce the all-star lineup helping to conduct the draw.
First up is Kaka...
Tonight's special award winners
17:20 , George Flood
Zlatan Ibrahimovic honoured by UEFA
17:19 , George FloodIt’s all been leading up to Zlatan receiving a special UEFA president’s award of his own from Ceferin.
Nearly 20 minutes in and we’re still waiting for the draw to start.
Finally the skits are over.
That took way, way too long.
Ceferin and Ibrahimovic are now out on stage.
What is going on here?
Aleksander Ceferin and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are currently doing their best acting in a few surprise skits centred on the new Champions League format.
Fabrizio Romano is also involved, along with the likes of Luis Figo and Giorgio Marchetti.
This is taking a while...
Chelsea receive award for European clean sweep
17:07 , George FloodUEFA president Aleksander Ceferin is invited on stage and will present Chelsea with their special award for completing that clean sweep of European trophies.
He says he doubts it will happen again any time soon, maybe not ever.
Chelsea’s president and chief operating officer Jason Gannon will collect the special, one-of-a-kind prize.
A live choir are currently giving a stirring rendition of the iconic Champions League anthem in Monaco, set to a montage of the competition’s best moments.
The actual draw itself will be off and running very soon.
Champions League draw coming up
17:00 , George FloodThe Champions League draw will be underway very shortly.
Here’s a more visual reminder of the 36 league phase teams awaiting their fate in Monaco this evening...
🆕 2025/26 league phase line-up!#UCLdraw | #UCL pic.twitter.com/K7c5CNlmpx
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 27, 2025
Kaka on red carpet in Monaco
16:55 , George FloodBrazil icon Kaka will be helping to conduct this evening’s draw in Monaco.
He has been pictured arriving on the red carpet outside the Grimaldi Forum, along with the likes of PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Inter Milan vice-president Javier Zanetti.
Chelsea set for special UEFA award
16:43 , George FloodSpeaking of Chelsea, the Blues are set to receive a special award at tonight’s ceremony.
The one-of-a-kind prize is to be presented to the Londoners for completing the full set of European trophies with their Conference League final victory over Real Betis in Wroclaw in May.
Chelsea are two-time winners of the Champions League who are back in the competition after a two-year absence, having finished fourth in the Premier League in their first campaign under Enzo Maresca.
They also won the Europa League in both 2012/13 and 2018/19 and have two UEFA Super Cups and Cup Winners' Cups to their names, in addition to a pair of Club World Cups.
PSG looking for repeat
16:26 , George FloodThe Champions League trophy sits front and centre of proceedings at Grimaldi Forum, named after the reigning family of Monaco.
Paris Saint-Germain are of course the holders for the first time in their history after finally achieving their European dream last season, thrashing Inter Milan 5-0 in a thoroughly one-sided final at Munich’s Allianz Arena in May.
They are in pot 1 for this evening’s league phase draw.
It has already been quite the eventful summer for Luis Enrique’s Treble winners, who lost the inaugural Club World Cup final to Chelsea before coming back from 2-0 down to beat Tottenham and lift the UEFA Super Cup in Udine earlier this month.
New Champions League final kick-off time confirmed
16:11 , George FloodUEFA have announced one key change to the 2025/26 Champions League ahead of today’s league phase draw in Monaco.
This season’s final, due to be held at the 67,215-capacity Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday, May 30, will kick-off at the earlier time of 6pm CET - 5pm in the UK.
The game usually kicks off at 9pm CET (8pm BST).
Uefa say the change has been made to “enhance the matchday experience and benefit fans, teams and host cities” and has been well received by Football Supporters Europe.
One-hour warning
16:03 , George FloodJust one hour left to go now until the draw for the league phase of the 2025/26 Champions League is underway!
The stage is already set in Monaco...
Monaco 📍#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/EnNfPeusyT
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 28, 2025
Play-off winners and losers
15:55 , George FloodA number of other big clubs fell during the final hurdle this week, including Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce and FC Basel.
Joining Kairat, Pafos, Bodo/Glimt and Club Brugge as play-off winners were Benfica, Qarabag and FC Copenhagen.
Four clubs set for Champions League debuts
15:38 , George FloodAlong with Kazakhstan Premier League champions Kairat, Norwegian Eliteserien winners Bodo/Glimt are also into the Champions League proper for the first time in their history after last season’s impressive run to the Europa League semi-finals, where they lost to eventual winners Tottenham.
Kjetil Knutsen’s side thrashed Austrians Sturm Graz 6-2 in the play-offs to take a spot in pot 3.
In pot 4 along with Kairat is Union Saint-Gilloise, who won the Belgian Pro League for the first time in 90 years last season.
Completing the new quartet is Pafos FC, the Cypriot First Division champions who narrowly edged out Red Star Belgrade this week.
Celtic and Rangers eliminated in embarrassing fashion
15:20 , George FloodThere is no Scottish representation at all in this evening’s league phase draw after both Old Firm rivals fell in embarrassing fashion in the play-off round this week.
Celtic were ousted on penalties in Kazakhstan on Tuesday after a pair of frustrating goalless draws with Kairat Almaty, who will now be one of four clubs making their Champions League debuts this season.
Struggling Rangers, meanwhile, went down to 10 men early on and were thrashed 6-0 by Club Brugge in Belgium last night - slumping to a humiliating 9-1 aggregate defeat to increase the mounting early pressure on under-fire new manager Russell Martin ahead of Sunday’s high-stakes first Old Firm derby clash of the campaign at Ibrox.
Both Celtic and Rangers will now enter the league phase of the Europa League instead, with that draw coming up tomorrow lunchtime.
Who qualifies for the round of 16?
15:02 , George FloodThe top eight finishers in the league phase of the Champions League will all advance directly into the round of 16.
The teams that finish between ninth and 16th will be seeded for a two-legged knockout play-off tie against unseeded teams that place between 17th and 24th.
The clubs that finish between 25th and 36th will exit Europe altogether at the end of the league phase in late January, with no safety net of dropping into the Europa League on offer in this revamped format.
When will Champions League fixtures be played?
14:51 , George FloodMatchday 1: September 16-18, 2025
Matchday 2: September 30-October 1, 2025
Matchday 3: October 21-22, 2025
Matchday 4: November 4-5, 2025
Matchday 5: November 25-26, 2025
Matchday 6: December 9-10, 2025
Matchday 7: January 20-21, 2026
Matchday 8: January 28, 2026
How does the Champions League draw work?
14:46 , George FloodThis is the second season involving the new Champions League format, which - along with the Europa League and Conference League - switched from the traditional group stage schedule before the start of the 2024/25 campaign.
Beginning with pot 1, computer will randomly assign each club two opponents from each pot to make eight league phase fixtures in total, four at home and four away.
However, no teams from the same country can be drawn together at this stage, while clubs can only face a maximum of two opponents from the same association.
The pots are determined by clubs’ individual UEFA coefficient ranking, with the highest in pot 1.
Confirmed teams and pots
14:40 , George FloodPot 1: Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona
Pot 2: Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus, Eintracht Frankfurt, Club Brugge
Pot 3: Tottenham, PSV, Ajax, Napoli, Sporting CP, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Bodo/Glimt, Marseille
Pot 4: Copenhagen, Monaco, Galatasaray, Union Saint-Gilloise, Qarabag, Athletic Club, Newcastle, Pafos, Kairat
How to watch Champions League draw
14:36 , George FloodTV channel: The draw will be shown live in the UK on TNT Sports 1. Coverage starts at 5pm BST and the draw will commence shortly after.
Live stream: TNT Sports subscribers will also be able to watch on a live stream online via the Discovery+ app and website.
UEFA.com and the TNT Sports YouTube channel will also show proceedings live for free.
Champions League draw live
14:34 , George FloodHello and welcome to Standard Sport’s live coverage of the draw for the league phase of the 2025/26 Champions League.
There are no fewer than six Premier League teams awaiting their European fate in Monaco this evening, with champions Liverpool joined by Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Newcastle and Europa League winners Tottenham.
Proceedings at the Grimaldi Forum should get underway at 5pm BST, so stay tuned for live coverage.
