# 2025–26 UEFA Champions League

The 2025–26 UEFA Champions League will be the 71st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 34th season since it was rebranded from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
The final will be played on 30 May 2026 at Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary.

## Association team allocation

A total of 83 teams from 53 of the 55 UEFA member associations are set to participate in the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League (the exceptions being Liechtenstein which does not organise a domestic league and Russia which is currently suspended). The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:
* Associations 1–5 each have four teams.
* Association 6 has three teams.
* Associations 7–15 each have two teams.
* Associations 16–55 (except Liechtenstein and Russia) each have one team.
* The winners of the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League and 2024–25 UEFA Europa League are each given an additional entry if they do not qualify for the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League through their domestic league.
* The two associations with the best coefficients in the 2024–25 season will each have one European Performance Spot into the league phase. The winners of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League cannot fill the European Performance Spots.

### Association ranking

For the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2024 UEFA association coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2019–20 to 2023–24. The table reflects Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA.
Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, associations may have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:
* (EPS) – European Performance Spot, the additional berths for associations who finish in the top 2 of the 2024–25 association coefficients
* (TH) – Additional berth for UEFA Champions League title holders
* (EL) – Additional berth for UEFA Europa League title holders
| Rank | Association | Coeff. | Teams |
| 1 | England | 104.303 | 4 |
| 2 | Italy | 90.284 | 4 |
| 3 | Spain | 89.489 | 4 |
| 4 | Germany | 86.624 | 4 |
| 5 | France | 66.831 | 4 |
| 6 | Netherlands | 61.300 | 3 |
| 7 | Portugal | 56.316 | 2 |
| 8 | Belgium | 48.800 | 2 |
| 9 | Turkey | 38.600 | 2 |
| 10 | Czech Republic | 36.050 | 2 |
| 11 | Scotland | 36.050 | 2 |
| 12 | Switzerland | 32.975 | 2 |
| 13 | Austria | 32.600 | 2 |
| 14 | Norway | 31.625 | 2 |
| 15 | Greece | 31.525 | 2 |
| 16 | Denmark | 31.450 | 1 |
| 17 | Israel | 31.125 | 1 |
| 18 | Ukraine | 28.000 | 1 |
| 19 | Serbia | 27.780 | 1 |
| Rank | Association | Coeff. | Teams |
| 20 | Croatia | 25.525 | 1 |
| 21 | Poland | 25.375 | 1 |
| 22 | Russia | 22.965 | 0 |
| 23 | Cyprus | 22.100 | 1 |
| 24 | Hungary | 21.875 | 1 |
| 25 | Sweden | 21.500 | 1 |
| 26 | Romania | 21.375 | 1 |
| 27 | Bulgaria | 20.375 | 1 |
| 28 | Azerbaijan | 20.125 | 1 |
| 29 | Slovakia | 19.625 | 1 |
| 30 | Slovenia | 13.250 | 1 |
| 31 | Moldova | 13.125 | 1 |
| 32 | Kosovo | 11.541 | 1 |
| 33 | Kazakhstan | 11.500 | 1 |
| 34 | Finland | 11.125 | 1 |
| 35 | Republic of Ireland | 10.875 | 1 |
| 36 | Armenia | 10.625 | 1 |
| 37 | Latvia | 10.625 | 1 |
| 38 | Faroe Islands | 10.375 | 1 |
| Rank | Association | Coeff. | Teams |
| 39 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 10.000 | 1 |
| 40 | Liechtenstein | 10.000 | 0 |
| 41 | Iceland | 9.583 | 1 |
| 42 | Northern Ireland | 9.208 | 1 |
| 43 | Luxembourg | 8.625 | 1 |
| 44 | Lithuania | 8.500 | 1 |
| 45 | Malta | 8.250 | 1 |
| 46 | Georgia | 7.625 | 1 |
| 47 | Albania | 7.375 | 1 |
| 48 | Estonia | 7.207 | 1 |
| 49 | Belarus | 6.625 | 1 |
| 50 | North Macedonia | 6.000 | 1 |
| 51 | Andorra | 5.998 | 1 |
| 52 | Wales | 5.791 | 1 |
| 53 | Montenegro | 5.708 | 1 |
| 54 | Gibraltar | 4.957 | 1 |
| 55 | San Marino | 1.832 | 1 |

### Distribution

| | | Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from the previous round |
| First qualifying round (30 teams) | First qualifying round (30 teams) | 30 champions from associations 25–55 (except Liechtenstein) | |
| Second qualifying round (30 teams) | Champions Path (24 teams) | 9 champions from associations 15–24 (except Russia) | 15 winners from the first qualifying round |
| Second qualifying round (30 teams) | League Path (6 teams) | 6 runners-up from associations 10–15 | |
| Third qualifying round (20 teams) | Champions Path (12 teams) | | 12 winners from the second qualifying round (Champions Path) |
| Third qualifying round (20 teams) | League Path (8 teams) | 3 runners-up from associations 7–9 1 third-placed team from association 6 1 fourth-placed team from association 5 | 3 winners from the second qualifying round (League Path) |
| Play-off round (14 teams) | Champions Path (10 teams) | 4 champions from associations 11–14 | 6 winners from the third qualifying round (Champions Path) |
| Play-off round (14 teams) | League Path (4 teams) | | 4 winners from the third qualifying round (League Path) |
| League stage (36 teams) | League stage (36 teams) | UEFA Champions League title holders UEFA Europa League title holders 2 associations with the highest coefficients from the previous season will receive an extra Champions League berth. 10 champions from associations 1–10 6 runners-up from associations 1–6 5 third-placed teams from associations 1–5 4 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–4 | 5 winners from the play-off round (Champions Path) 2 winners from the play-off round (League Path) |
| Knockout phase play-offs (16 teams) | Knockout phase play-offs (16 teams) | | 16 teams ranked 9–24 from the league phase |
| Round of 16 (16 teams) | Round of 16 (16 teams) | | 8 teams ranked 1–8 from the league phase 8 winners from the knockout phase play-offs |
The information here reflects the ongoing suspension of Russia in European football, and so the following changes to the default access list have been made:
* The champions of associations 23 (Cyprus) and 24 (Hungary) will enter the second qualifying round (Champions Path) instead of the first qualifying round.

### Teams

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
* TH: Champions League title holders
* EL: Europa League title holders
* 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.: League positions of the previous season
* EPS: European Performance Spots – the additional berths given to clubs from the two associations with the highest coefficient points in 2024–25
The second qualifying round, third qualifying round and play-off round are divided into Champions Path (CH) and League Path (LP).
Qualified teams for 2025–26 UEFA Champions League :
| Entry round | Entry round | Teams | Teams | Teams | Teams |
| League phase | League phase | (TH) | (EL) | (EPS) | (EPS) |
| League phase | League phase | (1st) | (2nd) | (3rd) | (4th) |
| League phase | League phase | (1st) | (2nd) | (3rd) | (4th) |
| League phase | League phase | (1st) | (2nd) | (3rd) | (4th) |
| League phase | League phase | (1st) | (2nd) | (3rd) | (4th) |
| League phase | League phase | (1st) | (2nd) | (3rd) | (1st) |
| League phase | League phase | (2nd) | (1st) | (1st) | (1st) |
| League phase | League phase | (1st) | | | |
| Play-off round | CH | (1st) | (1st) | (1st) | Bodø/Glimt (1st) |
| Third qualifying round | LP | (4th) | (3rd) | (2nd) | (2nd) |
| Third qualifying round | LP | (2nd) | | | |
| Second qualifying round | CH | (1st) | (1st) | (1st) | (1st) |
| Second qualifying round | CH | (1st) | (1st) | (1st) | (1st) |
| Second qualifying round | CH | (1st) | | | |
| Second qualifying round | LP | (2nd) | (2nd) | (2nd) | (2nd) |
| Second qualifying round | LP | Brann (2nd) | (2nd) | | |
| First qualifying round |
| First qualifying round | CH | Malmö FF (1st) | (1st) | (1st) | (1st) |
| First qualifying round | CH | (1st) | (1st) | (1st) | (1st) |
| First qualifying round | CH | Kairat (1st) | KuPS (1st) | Shelbourne (1st) | (1st) |
| First qualifying round | CH | RFS (1st) | Víkingur Gøta (1st) | (1st) | Breiðablik (1st) |
| First qualifying round | CH | Linfield (1st) | (1st) | Žalgiris (1st) | (1st) |
| First qualifying round | CH | Iberia 1999 (1st) | (1st) | FCI Levadia (1st) | Dinamo Minsk (1st) |
| First qualifying round | CH | (1st) | (1st) | The New Saints (1st) | (1st) |
| First qualifying round | CH | (1st) | (1st) | | |
* ^ Liechtenstein (LIE): The seven teams affiliated with the Liechtenstein Football Association (LFV) all play in the Swiss football league system. The only competition organised by the LFV is the Liechtenstein Football Cup – the winners of which qualify for the UEFA Conference League for the 2025–26 season.
* ^ Russia (RUS): On 28 February 2022, Russian football clubs and national teams were suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The tables reflect Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA competitions.
* ^ Scotland (SCO): Celtic have qualified as they will finish in the top two of the 2024–25 Scottish Premiership.

## Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows. One "exclusive week" will be held in which Thursday will also be a matchday. All matches in other weeks will be played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays apart from Matchday 8 (Wednesday only) and the final.
Schedule for 2025–26 UEFA Champions League :
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
| Qualifying | First qualifying round | 17 June 2025 | 8–9 July 2025 | 15–16 July 2025 |
| Qualifying | Second qualifying round | 18 June 2025 | 22–23 July 2025 | 29–30 July 2025 |
| Qualifying | Third qualifying round | 21 July 2025 | 5–6 August 2025 | 12 August 2025 |
| Play-offs | Play-off round | 4 August 2025 | 19–20 August 2025 | 26–27 August 2025 |
| League phase | Matchday 1 | 29 August 2025 | 16–18 September 2025 | 16–18 September 2025 |
| League phase | Matchday 2 | 29 August 2025 | 30 September – 1 October 2025 | 30 September – 1 October 2025 |
| League phase | Matchday 3 | 29 August 2025 | 21–22 October 2025 | 21–22 October 2025 |
| League phase | Matchday 4 | 29 August 2025 | 4–5 November 2025 | 4–5 November 2025 |
| League phase | Matchday 5 | 29 August 2025 | 25–26 November 2025 | 25–26 November 2025 |
| League phase | Matchday 6 | 29 August 2025 | 9–10 December 2025 | 9–10 December 2025 |
| League phase | Matchday 7 | 29 August 2025 | 20–21 January 2026 | 20–21 January 2026 |
| League phase | Matchday 8 | 29 August 2025 | 28 January 2026 | 28 January 2026 |
| Knockout phase | Knockout phase play-offs | 30 January 2026 | 17–18 February 2026 | 24–25 February 2026 |
| Knockout phase | Round of 16 | 27 February 2026 | 10–11 March 2026 | 17–18 March 2026 |
| Knockout phase | Quarter-finals | 27 February 2026 | 7–8 April 2026 | 14–15 April 2026 |
| Knockout phase | Semi-finals | 27 February 2026 | 28–29 April 2026 | 5–6 May 2026 |
| Knockout phase | Final | 27 February 2026 | 30 May 2026 at Puskás Aréna, Budapest | 30 May 2026 at Puskás Aréna, Budapest |