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UEFA Champions League (2025/26)

Cricket Warrior

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The 2025–26 UEFA Champions League is the 71st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 34th season since it was rebranded from the European Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Paris Saint-Germain are the defending champions, having secured their maiden title the previous season.

The final will be played on 30 May 2026 at Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary.[1] The winners of the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League will automatically qualify for the 2026–27 UEFA Champions League league phase, the 2026 FIFA Intercontinental Cup finals, the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup group stage, and earn the right to play against the winners of the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League in the 2026 UEFA Super Cup.

This is the first Champions League season to feature six clubs from one nation, with England earning an extra spot through UEFA coefficient ranking and Tottenham Hotspur having won the previous season's Europa League

As of 27 August 2025, the following teams have qualified for the league phase:

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Russell Martin's hapless 10-man Rangers crashed out of the Champions League play-offs in humiliating fashion as a record-equalling six-goal European loss at relentless Club Brugge inflicted a 9-1 aggregate defeat.
 
Tough fixtures for Chelsea

Barcelona (home), Bayern Munich (away), Benfica (home), Atalanta (away), Ajax (home), Napoli (away), Pafos (home) and Qarabag (away)
 
Trent Derby for Liverpool

Liverpool will play: Real Madrid (home), Inter Milan (away), Atletico Madrid (home), Eintracht Frankfurt (away), PSV Eindhoven (home), Marseille (away), Qarabag (home) and Galatasaray (away)
 
Manchester City will play: Borussia Dortmund (home), Real Madrid (away), Bayer Leverkusen (home), Villarreal (away), Napoli (home), Bodo/Glimt (away), Galatasaray (home) and Monaco (away).
 
Tough games and draw for holders PSG

Paris St-Germain will play: Bayern Munich (home), Barcelona (away), Atalanta (home), Bayer Leverkusen (away), Tottenham Hotspur (home), Sporting (away), Newcastle United (home) and Athletic Club (away).
 
Trent Derby for Liverpool

Liverpool will play: Real Madrid (home), Inter Milan (away), Atletico Madrid (home), Eintracht Frankfurt (away), PSV Eindhoven (home), Marseille (away), Qarabag (home) and Galatasaray (away)

Im seriously considering going to Qarabag as its a country Ive wanted to visit.

Not the easiest group, we are unlikely to finish top again lol.
 
Haram football Derby for Arsenal

Arsenal will play: Bayern Munich (home), Inter Milan (away), Atletico Madrid (away), Club Brugge (home), Olympiacos (away), Slavia Prague (home), Kairat Almaty (away) and Athletic Bilbao (home).
 
Im seriously considering going to Qarabag as its a country Ive wanted to visit.

Not the easiest group, we are unlikely to finish top again lol.
It's meant to be a very long travel and place to go.

You should go to Galatasaray (away). I went to see Galatasaray vs fenerbache many years ago with my Aunties husband. The game was delayed as well by 25 minutes due to flairs thrown on ground and stuff, for a few seasons they stopped away fans going in these Derby games.
 
Tottenham will meet: Borussia Dortmund (home), Paris St-Germain (away), Villarreal (home), Eintracht Frankfurt (away), Slavia Prague (home), Bodo/Glimt (away) Copenhagen (home) and Monaco (away).
 
It's meant to be a very long travel and place to go.

You should go to Galatasaray (away). I went to see Galatasaray vs fenerbache many years ago with my Aunties husband. The game was delayed as well by 25 minutes due to flairs thrown on ground and stuff, for a few seasons they stopped away fans going in these Derby games.

Never been to a match in turkey , this would be perfect but difficult to get a ticket .

Liverpool have to take this competition seriously from game 1 , a few losses and we might have to go through qualifying
 
Both Liverpool and Manchester City will face 15-time winners Real Madrid in the league phase of the Champions League, while Tottenham and Newcastle must both play holders Paris St-Germain.

The 36-team league - introduced last season - will see six Premier League teams in action for the first time, but they can not face each other until the knockout stages.

As well as coming up against Trent Alexander-Arnold and Real at Anfield, six-time winners Liverpool face Atletico Madrid and beaten finalists Inter Milan in their eight games, with Pep Guardiola's City taking on Napoli and Borussia Dortmund.

Chelsea face giants Barcelona and Bayern Munich while Arsenal also play Harry Kane's Bayern and Inter.

Newcastle's return to the competition includes a trip to St James' Park for Barcelona, while Tottenham - who qualified by winning the Europa League - play Dortmund and Monaco.

The first matches will be played on Tuesday, 16 September and the last round of league games take place on 28 January 2026, with exact scheduling to follow in the coming days.

This season's final will be held in Budapest.

Who the Premier League sides will face​

Liverpool: Real Madrid (home), Inter Milan (away), Atletico Madrid (home), Eintracht Frankfurt (away), PSV Eindhoven (home), Marseille (away), Qarabag (home) and Galatasaray (away).

Manchester City: Borussia Dortmund (home), Real Madrid (away), Bayer Leverkusen (home), Villarreal (away), Napoli (home), Bodo/Glimt (away), Galatasaray (home) and Monaco (away).

Chelsea: Barcelona (home), Bayern Munich (away), Benfica (home), Atalanta (away), Ajax (home), Napoli (away), Pafos (home) and Qarabag (away)

Arsenal: Bayern Munich (home), Inter Milan (away), Atletico Madrid (away), Club Brugge (home), Olympiacos (away), Slavia Prague (home), Kairat Almaty (away) and Athletic Bilbao (home).

Tottenham: Borussia Dortmund (home), Paris St-Germain (away), Villarreal (home), Eintracht Frankfurt (away), Slavia Prague (home), Bodo/Glimt (away) Copenhagen (home) and Monaco (away).

Newcastle: Barcelona (home), Paris St-Germain (away), Benfica (home), Bayer Leverkusen (away), PSV (home), Marseille (away), Athletic Bilbao (home) and Union SG (away).

Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Newcastle secured their spots with top-five Premier League finishes. Tottenham sealed their place by winning the Europa League.

Sixth-placed Aston Villa had to settle for the Europa League, along with Nottingham Forest. FA Cup winners Crystal Palace are in the Conference League, having been demoted from the Europa League over multi-club ownership rules.

Celtic and Rangers both missed out on qualifying for the main draw.

Who got the luck of the draw?​

Based on the average Uefa coefficient of their opponents, PSV Eindhoven have been handed the toughest draw in the league phase. Not only do they face the champions of England, Germany and Italy – Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Napoli – but they will also play two of the top three seeds from Pot 2 in Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid.

Manchester City and Liverpool have also been given a fairly tough gauntlet of games, with both sides drawn against 15-time winners Real Madrid. Pep Guardiola's side will also play Bayer Leverkusen and Napoli as well as two of the top seeds from Pot 4 in Galatasaray and Monaco. Arne Slot's side will play last year's finalists Inter and Atletico Madrid.

Atalanta will likely be the happiest club following the draw after being given the most favourable fixtures. While they do have to face champions Paris St-Germain and Club World Cup champions Chelsea, they were also drawn against the two lowest seeds in Pot 2 – Eintracht Frankfurt and Club Brugge – as well as two of the three lowest seeds in Pot 3 in Slavia Prague and Marseille.

Both north London clubs should also be fairly happy with the draw. While they do have to play Bayern Munich, Inter and Atletico Madrid, Arsenal were otherwise drawn against low-seeded teams in Pots 2, 3 and 4, including Celtic's Kazakh conquerors Kairat Almaty. Tottenham also received favourable draws in terms of opponents from Pots 2 and 3, avoiding the likes of Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid and Napoli.

BBC
 
Adidas unveils UEFA Champions League balls made in Pakistan

Adidas has unveiled the new official match balls for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Women's Champions League, which are both apparently manufactured in Pakistan.

The launch happened shortly after the conclusion of the Champions League play-off matches.

According to Adidas, the men's Champions League ball is inspired by the night sky, whereas the women's edition is inspired by deep space and the Northern lights. Both designs pay tribute to football stars as they prepare for the finals, which will be held in Budapest and Oslo in May.


 
Nice I like this part of the change to format. Although I didn’t mind 6 group stage matches.

What I don’t like at all is 2 more matches for teams finishing 9-24, which means a team could play 10 matches to just get out of group stage and that’s excessive.
 
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