UEFA Champions League: Format, history and dates

The UEFA Champions League is the premier competition in European club football, with the top sides battling it out on an annual basis to be crowned the best team on the continent.

2025/26 UEFA Champions League teams

A total of 81 teams will take part in the UEFA Champions League, with 56 participating in the initial qualifying rounds. These sides involved in the early rounds will be those based in UEFA's lower-ranked associations with 14 of these aiming to reach the knockout play-off stage.

Seven of those qualifiers will join the main group to form a 36-team league phase for the main body of the competition.

2025/26 UEFA Champions League format

League phase

The 2025/26 season sees a continuation of the revamped format for the UEFA Champions League with 36 teams partaking in the league phase, with all teams in one group, as opposed to the previous format of 32 teams, split into eight groups of four.

According to UEFA, teams on level points will be separated via:

1. Superior goal difference in the league phase

2. Higher number of goals scored in the league phase

3. Higher number of away goals scored in the league phase

4. Higher number of wins in the league phase

5. Higher number of away wins in the league phase

6. Higher number of points obtained collectively by league phase opponents

7. Superior collective goal difference of league phase opponents

8. Higher number of goals scored collectively by league phase opponents

9. Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received by players and team officials in all league phase matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points)

10. Higher club coefficient

UEFA Champions League format explained

Knockout phase

After all eight fixtures have been played, the top eight teams will automatically qualify for the last 16 of the competition, where they will be seeded. Teams who finished 9th-16th will be seeded in the knockout round play-off, and will play a two-legged tie against a team who finished 17th-24th in the league phase.

The play-off winners will progress to the last 16, where they will be drawn against one of the seeded teams.

The draw from that point is open, with all progressing teams able to face each other.

UEFA Champions League history

The competition was first introduced ahead of the 1955/56 season, with Spanish giants Real Madrid winning the inaugural European Cup, beating French club Reims 4-3 in the final.

The competition remained in the same format for the next 36 years, with only the defending champions and winners of the previous season's domestic leagues eligible to play.

However, that all changed ahead of the 1992/93 season, as UEFA rebranded the competition, renaming it the UEFA Champions League and introducing a group stage rather than just the straight knockout format that had previously been used.

The new-look tournament started from the 2024/25 season and saw the introduction of a 36-team league phase, a 16-team play-off round progressing to a 16-team knockout stage.

UEFA Champions League dates

The group stages matches will take place between September and January.

The UEFA Champions League will still be played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays as normal, though it will have one 'exclusive' matchweek, where there are no Europa League or Conference League matches, and on this week, the UEFA Champions League will host matches on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

For the final matchday of the UEFA Champions League group stage, all games will be played at the same time.

Matchday 1	16-18 September 2025
Matchday 2	30 September-1 October 2025
Matchday 3	21-22 October 2025
Matchday 4	4-5 November 2025
Matchday 5	25-26 November 2025
Matchday 6	9-10 December 2025
Matchday 7	20-21 January 2026
Matchday 8	28 January 2026
Knockout round play-offs	17-18 February 2026; 24-25 February 2026
Round of 16	10-11 March 2026; 17-18 March 2026
Quarter-finals	7-8 April 2026; 14-15 April 2026
Semi-finals	28-29 April 2026; 5-6 May 2026
Final	30 May 2026

When are the UEFA Champions League draws?

Full draw dates can be found below, with all of the knockout rounds after the play-off being drawn at the same time.

Round	Date
First qualifying round	17 June 2025
Second qualifying round	18 June 2025
Third qualifying round	21 July 2025
Play-offs	4 August 2025
League phase	28 August 2025
Knockout round play-offs	30 January 2026
Round of 16, quarter-final, semi-final	27 February 2026

UEFA Champions League draw explained

Owing to the new format of the competition, the draw also required revamping. Rather than drawing teams into eight groups of four, teams are now drawn out with their opponents to create a fixture list, rather than individual groups.

Each team will face two clubs (one at home, one away) from each of the four pots, for a total of eight fixtures.

UEFA Champions League draw explained

Where is the UEFA Champions League final 2025/26?

The 2025/26 UEFA Champions League final will be held at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary. The stadium holds 67,215 fans and has hosted the 2020 UEFA Super Cup and the 2023 Europa League final.