Champions League group stage draw: Ibrahimovic, Kaka press the draw button

So, up to now, the 36 teams participating in the Champions League group stage have been determined. They are divided into 4 seeded groups, based on the results of European cup competitions in the last 5 seasons.

Group 1 seeds: PSG, Real Madrid, Man City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Dortmund, Barcelona.

Pot 2: Arsenal, Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus, Frankfurt, Benfica, Club Brugge.

Pot 3: Tottenham, PSV, Ajax, Napoli, Sporting Lisbon, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Bodo Glimt, Marseille.

Pot 4: AS Monaco, Galatasaray, Union Saint-Gilloise, Athletic Bilbao, Newcastle, Pafos, Kairat, Qarabag, Copenhagen.

UEFA will draw based on prestigious software, to ensure fairness. Each club will face two teams from each seeding pot. They will play a total of 8 matches (4 home matches, 4 away matches).

The familiar rules still apply, with teams not facing opponents from the same country and not meeting more than two clubs from the same footballing background.

The top 8 teams in the group stage automatically qualify for the round of 16. The teams ranked 9-24 participate in a play-off round to select the 8 teams to advance to the round of 16. The teams ranked 25-36 will be eliminated, instead of being relegated to the Europa League as before.

Notably, from this season onwards, UEFA will give priority to the teams with higher rankings in the group stage to play at home in the second leg of the knockout round. This ensures fairness for the teams that have made an effort to compete in the group stage, avoiding the disadvantageous situation like Liverpool last season.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/boc-tham-vong-bang-champions-league-ibrahimovic-kaka-an-nut-boc-tham-20250828230001066.htm