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The revamped UEFA Champions League enters its 2nd play successful 2025-2026 with the gully for the archetypal signifier taking spot connected Thursday.
The qualification play ended connected Wednesday with immoderate daze eliminations, including Scottish powerhouses Glasgow Rangers and Celtic and Turkish giants Fenerbahce.
The league signifier volition present get nether mode to determine who qualifies straight for the last knockout stages and who volition caput into the playoffs oregon worse – elimination.
Al Jazeera Sport takes a look astatine Thursday’s gully astatine UEFA’s office successful Nyon, Switzerland:
Who did Paris Saint-Germain bushed to triumph past season’s Champions League?
French giants PSG stormed to the Champions League trophy with a 5-0 demolition of Italy’s Inter Milan successful past season’s final.
Desire Doue grabbed the headlines with his match-winning performance, including 2 goals for the then-19-year-old.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Marquinhos celebrates with supporters and teammates during a ceremonial successful the French superior to contiguous the trophy a time aft the nine won the UEFA Champions League [File: Frank Fife/Reuters]Where did Real Madrid and Barcelona decorativeness successful past season’s Champions League?
Real endured a pugnacious play successful Spain and connected the continent. The Madrid nine were eliminated astatine the quarterfinal stage by Arsenal.
Los Blancos, who were the defending Champions League winners, besides mislaid their Spanish rubric to fierce rivals Barcelona.
The Catalan nine were wide expected to scope the Champions League last but were eliminated by Inter, who staged a precocious comeback successful the 2nd limb of their record-equalling semifinal.
Are Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City expected to situation for the Champions League?
The Premier League’s large 3 are joined by chap English sides Chelsea, the FIFA Club World Cup winners, and Tottenham, the Europa League winners, successful this year’s competition.
All eyes volition beryllium connected Liverpool, who won a record-equalling 20th Premier League title past season. The Reds besides topped past season’s league signifier successful the Champions League but were eliminated by PSG connected penalties successful the circular of 16.
Arsenal’s awesome tally was ended successful the past 4 by PSG while Manchester City were dumped retired successful the playoffs by chap strugglers Real.
How galore teams volition enactment successful this season’s Champions League?
Last season’s Champions League expanded to 36 clubs from the erstwhile 32-team set-up. The size and format stay the aforesaid this clip around.
What is the format of this season’s Champions League?
As per past season’s revamp, the 36 qualified teams volition play successful a league signifier with each broadside playing 8 matches based connected Thursday’s draw.
The ceremonial has 4 seeded pots of 9 clubs to determine who volition play whom successful the archetypal signifier of the competition.
The apical 8 teams volition suffice straight for the circular of 16. The pursuing 16 sides volition participate into location and distant playoffs to scope the adjacent round. The bottommost 8 teams successful the league signifier volition beryllium eliminated.
Since 2003, the Champions League had featured 32 clubs divided into 8 groups of 4 with the apical 2 from each conception advancing to the past 16.
How volition the seeding impact the draw?
Every nine volition play 2 teams from each pot, 1 astatine location and 1 away.
No squad volition travel up against different nine from the aforesaid home league arsenic them, and each nine tin look a maximum of lone 2 teams from immoderate 1 country.
What are the pots for the Champions League draw?
Pot 1: Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea
Pot 2: Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus, Eintracht Frankfurt, Benfica, Club Brugge
Pot 3: Tottenham Hotspur, PSV Eindhoven, Ajax, Napoli, Sporting CP, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Marseille, Bodo/Glimt
Pot 4: Monaco, Galatasaray, Union Saint-Gilloise, Athletic Club, Newcastle United, Pafos, Kairat Almaty, Copenhagen, Qarabag
This communicative starts with a star. 💫⚽️
Introducing the caller UEFA Champions League Pro Match Ball...@adidasfootball | #shiningstars pic.twitter.com/F1Fk0ZDDLk
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 27, 2025
How galore games volition beryllium played successful the radical stage?
A full of 144 games volition beryllium played successful the league phase. Before past season, 96 games constituted what was past the radical stage.
How volition the gully work?
UEFA present operates a hybrid gully alternatively than the solely manual contented that has been, and inactive is, utilized wide crossed the world.
Each of the 36 teams are inactive manually drawn, moving done the 4 seeding pots from apical to bottom. The drafting of their opponents, however, is present to beryllium done digitally, taking small much than a 2nd per team.
Once the teams are drawn manually, the bundle picks the opponents and wherever the teams volition play – location oregon away.
What are the dates of the Champions League radical stage?
Matchday 1: September 16-17
Matchday 2: September 30-October 1
Matchday 3: October 21-22
Matchday 4: November 4-5
Matchday 5: November 25-26
Matchday 6: December 9-10
Matchday 7: January 20-21
Matchday 8: January 28
Will the bottommost 8 successful the league signifier suffice for the Europa League?
No. The bottommost 12 teams successful the league signifier volition beryllium simply eliminated.
What is the prize wealth for the UEFA Champions League?
Clubs progressive successful the league signifier of the Champions League volition person $2.6bn distributed among them.
The victor of the Champions League, on with each different teams, volition beryllium rewarded connected a game-by-game basis.
Should the eventual champion triumph each their games passim the competition, past much than 100 cardinal euros ($116m) tin beryllium claimed.
Similarly to the FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA has introduced a bid of different payments, making the eventual full hard to define.
Participation fees, show bonuses, league signifier ranking bonuses, knockout signifier payments and a worth pillar, which combines payments based connected a club’s humanities UEFA coefficient ranking and their stock of the broadcast market, volition each beryllium utilized to determine wide payments.
Qualifying for the last unsocial volition effect successful an 18.5-million-euro ($21.5m) reward portion the winning finalist volition person an further 6.5 cardinal euros ($7.5m).
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