{"id":1293707,"date":"2025-09-17T17:19:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T14:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/champions-league-2025-26-participants-calendar-and-first-round-details\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T17:19:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T14:19:16","slug":"champions-league-2025-26-participants-calendar-and-first-round-details","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/champions-league-2025-26-participants-calendar-and-first-round-details\/","title":{"rendered":"Champions League 2025\/26: participants, calendar and first round details"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The new 2025\/26 UEFA Champions League season kicked off on 16 September in the format introduced last year. The tournament will feature 36 teams playing in a league phase instead of the traditional groups. The changes, including the line-up, calendar and first round, have already been announced by UEFA, and now football fans can get ready for the big European season.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3> <strong>General tournament format<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> The 2025\/26 Champions League is the second season in the new format. The group stage no longer exists: all 36 clubs now participate in a league phase, which resembles a championship with a single standings. Each team will play eight matches: four at home and four away against opponents from different pots in the draw.<\/p>\n<p> The results of these games will form a single table. The eight best teams will directly advance to the round of 16. The clubs that will take places from 9th to 24th will play additional play-off matches for the right to continue the fight in the playoffs. The remaining teams will leave the tournament. This approach makes it possible to see more top matches and increases the intrigue in the early stages.<\/p>\n<h3> <strong>Season participants<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> The new season will feature 36 clubs from 16 European countries. The top leagues, England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France, are expected to field the largest number of teams. However, the tournament will also be interesting thanks to the debutants.<\/p>\n<p> For the first time in the history of the Champions League league phase, Kazakhstan&#8217;s Kairat Almaty, Norway&#8217;s Budejo\/Glimt, Cyprus&#8217; Paphos and Belgium&#8217;s Union Saint-Gilloise will play. They have become real sensations of the qualifying selection and will try their hand at European giants for the first time.<\/p>\n<p> It is noteworthy that this season will be the first since 2005\/06 when no Ukrainian team has been able to make it to the main stage of the Champions League. For Ukrainian fans, this is a painful fact, but at the same time there is hope for successful performance of clubs in the Europa League and the Conference League.<\/p>\n<p> List of teams in the league phase of the 2025\/26 Champions League:<\/p>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li> England: Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Newcastle;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Spain: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico de Madrid, Athletic, Villarreal;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Italy: Napoli, Inter, Atalanta, Juventus;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Germany: Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt, Dortmund;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> France: Paris Saint-Germain, Marseille, Monaco;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Netherlands: PSV, Ajax;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Portugal: Benfica, Sporting CP;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Belgium: Club Brugge, Union Saint-Gilloise;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Turkey: Galatasaray;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Czech Republic: Slavia Prague;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Greece: Olympiacos;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Denmark: &#8220;Copenhagen&#8221;;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Norway: &#8220;Bud\/Glimt&#8221;;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Cyprus: &#8220;Paphos&#8221;;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Kazakhstan: &#8220;Kairat Almaty&#8221;;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Azerbaijan: &#8220;Karabagh&#8221;.<\/li>\n<p><\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3> <strong>League phase calendar<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> The opening round of the Champions League will take place on September 16\u201318, 2025. The next games are scheduled for September 30\u2013October 1, October 21\u201322, November 4\u20135, November 25\u201326 and December 9\u201310. The final rounds will be held in January 2026 \u2014 January 20\u201321 and January 28.<\/p>\n<p> After the league phase ends in February 2026, the play-offs will begin, with the round of 16 starting in March. The season finale is scheduled for May 30, 2026, and will take place in Budapest at the Puskas Arena.<\/p>\n<h3> <strong>First round details<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> The first round of the 2025\/26 Champions League kicked off on September 16 and will immediately present fans with a number of central confrontations. The season will open with a match at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Real Madrid will host Marseille. The Spaniards traditionally approach the tournament as one of the main favorites, while the French club seeks to prove that they are capable of competing at the highest level. This match ended with a score of <strong>2:1<\/strong> in favor of the Spaniards.<\/p>\n<p> The match in Munich was no less anticipated: Bayern will face Chelsea. Both teams are in the process of rebuilding their squads, but have strong players and rich European experience. The Munich team will count on the advantage of their home stadium, while the Londoners will try to gain important points away from home to set the tone for the entire tournament.<\/p>\n<p> Liverpool and Atletico Madrid will meet again at Anfield in Liverpool. The teams have met in European finals on several occasions, and each encounter has always been a tense affair. The English club will rely on their attacking style and fan support, while Diego Simeone&#8217;s team will bring their signature discipline and counter-attacking tactics.<\/p>\n<p> Another top pairing of the round is Barcelona vs. Newcastle. The Catalans are looking to regain their former glory in the Champions League, but their opponent will be an English club, which is participating in the tournament for only the second year in a row and is showing a defiant game against the giants. This confrontation promises to be one of the most striking of the entire first stage.<\/p>\n<p> London&#8217;s Arsenal played their opening match at home against Athletic Bilbao. Both teams are known for their homegrown and disciplined football, so the match turned out to be tactical and unpredictable. However, the English team still managed to pull out a <strong>2-0<\/strong> victory.<\/p>\n<p> Defending English champions Manchester City will face Napoli in a clash between two teams known for their attacking style. Guardiola will look to use his combination style, while Napoli will rely on quick counterattacks and individual skill from their forwards.<\/p>\n<p> Other matches promise to be interesting as well. Club Brugge will play Monaco at home, which could be a battle for important points for teams aiming to break into the top 24. Copenhagen will host Bayer Leverkusen &#8211; the Germans come in as a dark horse, while the Danish club is always dangerous at home.<\/p>\n<p> Thus, the first round of the 2025\/26 Champions League already offers matches that can be compared to the later stages of the tournament. Fans can expect real football spectacles, where every point can play a decisive role in the grand standings.<\/p>\n<p> The 2025\/26 Champions League promises to be one of the most exciting seasons in recent years. The new format ensures even more top-flight matches right from the start, debuting clubs add intrigue, and the first-round schedule has prepared real football shows. Fans will get a whole series of matches that could become decisive from the very first matchdays.<\/p>\n<p> Also follow <strong>\u201cPryamim\u201d<\/strong> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pryamiy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Facebook<\/a> , <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/prm_ua\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Twitter<\/a> , <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/+rtV4dxYu2_cyNjVi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Telegram<\/a> , and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pryamiy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The new 2025\/26 UEFA Champions League season kicked off on 16 September in the format introduced last year. The tournament will feature 36 teams playing in a league phase instead of the traditional groups. The changes, including the line-up, calendar and first round, have already been announced by UEFA, and now football fans can get [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":479391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76875,76895],"class_list":["post-1293707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-other-news","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1293707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1293707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1293707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1293707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1293707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}