The stage is set and not just metaphorically. The 2025–26 UEFA Champions League League Phase draw is officially scheduled for Thursday, 28 August 2025, starting at 6:00 p.m. BST (which is 7:00 p.m. CET). The venue? The prestigious Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, home to football’s most anticipated draw of the year.

Why This Matters

The draw opens the new 36-team “League Phase”, where each club will face eight opponents (one home, one away) from four seeded pots.

The league phase kicks off mid-September, with matchdays running from 16–18 September 2025 through 28 January 2026.

 

Format Highlights:

Top 8 teams skip straight to the round of 16.

Teams ranked 9th to 24th enter a playoff for a knockout spot.

Ranked 25th+ face elimination with no Europa League fallback.

What to Expect From the Draw

Five Premier League clubs Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle, and Tottenham are confirmed participants.

Draw protocols include: no same-country matchups in the league phase, and a maximum of two opponents from the same association.

New Integrated Rules for This Season

1. League Phase Expands to 36 Teams

The old group stage is gone. Now a single league phase ranks all teams on a unified table, with each club playing eight matches (four at home, four away) against eight different opponents across four seeded pots.

The top eight teams qualify automatically to the Round of 16; teams ranked 9–24 play in a knockout playoff to join them; clubs 25th+ are eliminated entirely no Europa League route.

2. Home Advantage Locked for Top-Performing Teams

The top eight finishers now gain the crucial second-leg home advantage for all knockout rounds up to the semi-finals, not just the Round of 16.

The draw for quarter-finals and semis will still occur, but the match order is fixed: the higher-ranked team plays the second leg at home.

3. No Same-Country Clashes Before Quarter-finals

UEFA plans to reintroduce “country protection”, keeping clubs from the same national league apart until the quarter-finals. This aims to preserve diversity in early knockout matches and avoid repetitive domestic clashes.

4. Extra Time Still On (For Now)

While UEFA has considered removing extra time sending tied knockout matches directly to penalties the proposal was not adopted. The current format (30 mins extra time followed by penalties, if needed) remains in place.

 

5. No Away Goals Rule

UEFA continues without the away-goal advantage the tiebreaker was officially abolished in 2021. All knockout ties tied on aggregate now go to extra time and potential penalties.