For the second time, the draw for the championship phase in the new Champions League format, introduced last year, takes place: a draw that will be held today at 6 PM at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
Historic balls almost retired. The old analog draw method, in fact, would have required about 3 to 4 hours according to simulations.
The new procedure will instead adhere to the usual timing, which is around 30 minutes.
👀 How does the draw work?
The teams are divided into 4 pots according to their coefficient. The Champions League holder is the top seed in Pot 1 regardless of its coefficient. Starting with the 9 clubs in the first pot, the initial step is taken: a team is drawn manually, then a dedicated software randomly draws its 8 opponents, 2 per pot.
Club by club, the process will continue with the other pots in descending order until all teams are drawn against an opponent. The software also randomly decides which teams play at home and away. The clubs will face two opponents from the same pot, playing one match at home and one away.
The software follows certain principles to ensure that teams do not face one from the same national federation and that they face a maximum of two clubs from another federation. The use of the computer will prevent incorrect pairings related to the different tournament format. During the draw, the software always checks to ensure no deadlock situations can occur.
📊 The second phase
From these matches, a ranking will obviously emerge: the top 8 overall will go directly to the round of 16 as top seeds, while those ranked between 9th and 24th place will play in the playoffs (those between 9th and 16th place will face the teams between 17th and 24th).
The teams ranked from 25th place onwards will be eliminated from all UEFA competitions. The seeding position determines each club’s path in the knockout phase, from the playoffs to the final. The higher the teams finish in the ranking, the higher their seeding position will be.
⚽️ It starts on September 16: the dates
- 1st matchday: September 16–18, 2025
- 2nd matchday: September 30–October 1, 2025
- 3rd matchday: October 21/22, 2025
- 4th matchday: November 4/5, 2025
- 5th matchday: November 25/26, 2025
- 6th matchday: December 9/10, 2025
- 7th matchday: January 20/21, 2026
- 8th matchday: January 28, 2026
- Knockout phase playoffs: February 17/18 and 24/25, 2026
- Round of 16: March 10/11 and 17/18, 2026
- Quarter-finals: April 7/8 and 14/15, 2026
- Semi-finals: April 28/29 and May 5/6, 2026
- Final: May 30, 2026, in Budapest
⏱️ Match times
For the match times, we will have to wait. UEFA prefers to wait to avoid scheduling overlaps with Europa and Conference League clubs playing in the same cities. The Europa League draw will follow the same method as the Champions League, while in the Conference League each team will face six opponents, one per pot. In this case, pots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are paired, so that one match is at home and one away.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.
📸 VALENTIN FLAURAUD – AFP or licensors