Dream draw or fixture list from hell. What teams will be hoping for in today’s Champions League draw

Only 90 days have passed since PSG swatted aside Inter Milan in the 2025 Champions League final in Munich and the new season of UEFA’s prestigious competition is upon us already.

Coming into the week, we knew the names of 29 of the teams who would be participating in the 2025-26 Champions League Swiss Model league format and following a series of final play-off games on Tuesday and Wednesday, seven additional teams secured their berths in the ‘promised land’ of European football with the likes of Pafos FC (Cyprus), Kairat Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Norway’s Bodo Glimt set to make their UCL debuts this season.

Second season for ‘Swiss model’ format

Instead of being divided into eight groups of four, all 36 teams are now part of a single league table with each team set to play eight matches in the league phase, a change from the previous six. They will face eight different opponents, with four matches at home and four away.

Prior to the draw, there will be four pots with teams allocated to these pots based on UEFA coefficients.

The four UCL pots

Pot 1: PSG, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern, Liverpool, Inter, Chelsea, Dortmund, Barcelona

Pot 2: Arsenal, Leverkusen, Atlético Madrid, Club Brugge, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus, Eintracht Frankfurt, Benfica

Pot 3: Tottenham, PSV, Ajax, Napoli, Sporting CP, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Bodo/Glimt, Marseille

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

No physical balls will be used on stage as the draw button is pressed once at the beginning of both draws, thus activating the random selection of opponents, including who plays at home and who plays away.

After the software has conducted the full draw, the pairings and who plays each fixture home or away will be released progressively, pot after pot, starting with pot 1, thus maintaining suspense and clarity for viewers. The software assigns every side two rivals from each of the four pots, including their own nation barred from playing one another.

The digital process is being overseen by auditors Ernst & Young.

Dream draw

None of the sides in Pot A are pushovers with Dortmund possibly being the weakest of the bunch. Brugge and Eintracht Frankfurt will be seen by many as the easiest draws in Pot 2 with Slavia Prague and Bodo Glimt the ideal draws in Pot 3. Pafos, Kiryat and Qarabag will be high on many club’s Pot 4 wishlist with the long travel distance to both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan set to offer logistical complications.

Draw from Hell

Being handed draws with PSG and Real Madrid from Pot A is something that no team would wish for with Arsenal, Juventus and Atletico Madrid being three of the stronger teams in Pot 2.

Europa League winners Tottenham and Serie A champions Napoli are certainly the teams to avoid in Pot 3 while no-one will fancy drawing Newcastle or Athletic Club in Pot 4.

Don’t miss a moment of the Champions League 25-26 draw action by joining our live text commentary right here on AS USA. Build up begins around 90 minutes before the event officially commences at 12pm ET / 9am PT.

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