When is the Champions League draw? Date, start time, teams qualified and how to watch live for free

The draw for the Champions League 2025/26 league phase takes place this week.

Liverpool, Arsenal , Manchester City , Club World Cup champions Chelsea, Newcastle and Europa League winners Tottenham will be in the draw, along with holders Paris Saint-Germain .

The Gunners reached the semi-finals last term, losing out to PSG 3-1 on aggregate after thrashing both PSV and Real Madrid before their final four exit.

And Luis Enrique’s side went on to thump Inter Milan 5-0 in the final and have since edged past Spurs on penalties in the Uefa Super Cup earlier this month, denying Thomas Frank a trophy in his first game in charge.

The draw will be held in Monaco on Thursday, 28 August and begins at 6pm BST.

Uefa and TNT Sports will both offer a free live stream on their websites and YouTube channels.

The league phase has 36 teams with every team handed eight games. The 36 teams are split into four pots of eight teams based on their Uefa coefficient, with the opponents generated by automated software.

The opponents then come from each pot, with two teams selected from each, one home and one away.

Teams cannot play another team from the same country and are not permitted to face more than two teams from one country.

Those finishing inside the top eight go straight into the last 16, then the next 16 teams advance to the play-off stage, with eight of those 16 teams progressing to the last 16.

Pot 1: PSG, Real Madrid, Man City , Bayern Munich, Liverpool , Inter Milan, Chelsea , Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona

Pot 2: Arsenal , Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus, Eintracht Frankfurt

Pot 3: PSV, Ajax, Napoli, Sporting, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Marseille

Pot 3/4: Monaco

Pot 4: Galatasaray, Union Saint-Gilloise, Athletic Bilbao, Newcastle

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 phase play-offs: 17/18 & 24/25 February 2026

Round of 16: 10/11 & 17/18 March 2026

Quarter-finals: 7/8 & 14/15 April 2026

Final: 30 May 2026 (Budapest)

PSG 5/1

Liverpool 11/2

Barcelona 6/1

Real Madrid 13/2

Arsenal 7/1

Man City 8/1

Bayern Munich 9/1

Chelsea 14/1

Newcastle 18/1