UEFA Champions League 2025-26: Everything you need to know in our Ultimate Guide | OneFootball

What is the UEFA Champions League?

The UEFA Champions League, often referred to as the Champions League or it's three letter abbreviation UCL, is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

It is widely regarded as the biggest and most prestigious club football competition in the world and is contested by the best teams in European football from various nations including England, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Portugal and Netherlands.

The first staging of the UEFA Champions League under its current name was in the 1992-93 season, however the competion was just an expansion of the European Cup which started in 1955. A total of 24 different football clubs have won the Champions League from 10 different nations.

The 2025-26 edition of the Champions League will be the 71st edition of the competition with the league phase consisting of 36 different teams from 16 nations across Europe.

When is it and how can I watch?

The 2025-26 UEFA Champions League has already started! Three qualifying rounds, with the first commencing on Tuesday 8 July, and a play-off round, have already taken place.

The league phase, regarded as when the Champions League starts 'proper' because of all the major teams entering, commences on Tuesday 16 September and concludes on 28 January 2026 before a series of play-off games and knockout rounds decide the winner.

The final of this season's Champions League will take place at the Puskas Arena, Budapest, Hungary on Saturday 30 May 2026 (KO - 17:00).

Full list of 2025-26 Champions League Matchdays:

The Champions League attracts a huge global audience with the final itself overtaking the Super Bowl as the most watched annual sporting event.

The 2012-13 final at Wembley, England, was contested between German sides Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich and attracted a reported worldwide TV audience of over 360 million people, a record that still stands.

In the UK, the only legal way to watch every Champions League game live is on TNT Sport, a subcription paid service, though Amazon Prime Video have the rights to show 'the best' Tuesday game live on each of the eight matchdays during the league phase.  Free to air channel BBC have the rights to show highlights after every round of Champions League games.

What is the new format?

Ahead of the 2024-25 Champions League UEFA announced a new revamped format for the competition, designed for every club to test themselves against a wider range of opponents and for fans to see the top teams go head-to-head more often and earlier in the competition.

Under the new format, teams now play eight matches in the new league phase (former group stage). They will no longer play three opponents twice (home and away) but will instead face fixtures against eight different teams, playing four of those matches at home and four of them away.

The 36 teams are split into four pots with each team being drawn to play two teams from each pot, making up their eight league phase matches. All 36 teams will be ranked in one league table as per usual competition rules, three points for a win and one point for a draw.

At the conclusion of the league phase the teams ranked 1-8 will automatically qualify for the Round of 16. The teams ranked 9-24 will contest a play-off game over two legs, meaning eight fixtures with the eight winners qualifying for the Round of 16. Teams ranked 25-36, plus the eight play-off losers, will be eliminated from the competition.

The competition then moves on to a standard knockout stage with the eight Round of 16 ties followed by four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and one final. All knockout ties are played over two legs - one home and one way - except for the final which is one game at a neutral venue (the Puskas Arena in Hungary has been selected for the 2025-26 final).

For a full explanation of the new format you can watch the below video from Sky Sports Football which was aired prior to the 2024-25 competition.

Who are the 36 clubs taking part?

The 36 teams competing in this season's Champions League can be seen below, along with the nation they represent and that nation's coefficient ranking.

The top five leagues in European football - Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 - were all allocated four places. The top four teams in each of those five domestic leagues at the end of the 2024-25 season qualified for the 2025-26 Champions League

Both the Premier League and La Liga were awarded an extra place courtesy of a European Performance Spot (based on how clubs from each league performed in the three 2024-25 UEFA competitions).

Tottenham qualified for this season's Champions League courtesy of winning the 2024-25 UEFA Europa League, meaning England will have six representatives. France have only three representatives in the league phase as Nice were eliminated in the third qualifying round, losing 4-0 on aggregate to Benfica.

Where do all these teams play their home games?

Of course, a lot of the participating football clubs in this season's Champions League will be very familiar to avid football fans, but do you know where they all play their home games? Do you know who the manager of Union Sait Gilloise is, the size of Qarabag's home ground, or even where in Europe Bodo/Glimt are based?

Well you do now!

Note:

*Barcelona could move back into their renovated Camp Nou stadium with a new capacity of 105,000

**At the time of writing, Bayer Leverkusen don't have a manager after sacking Erik Ten Hag recently

Is there any prize money on offer?

Yes, as you would expect for a competition with such huge global appeal, the Champions League offers loads of prize money with a large percentage of it based on performance.

UEFA have recently announced prize money for the 2025-26 competition, and it's no exaggeration to say there's plenty to play for.

However, even if you don't score a single goal in the league phase and lose all eight games, some clubs have already enjoyed a windfall. That's because every cub participating in the league phase is given just over £16m, which for teams like Pafos, Qarabag and Kairat is huge.

Prize money is then awarded for winning (£1.82m) and drawing (£608k) league phase games, and for the overall position a team ranks at the conclusion of the league phase.

And as you'd expect, lots of prize money is awarded to teams winning knockout games. A full breakdown of the prize money awarded can be seen below.

How much can the Champions League winners get?

Let's assume a team wins every league phase game, tops the table and then goes on to lift the trophy. In total, the prize money that football club will be awarded is a follows:

Participating in the league phase:  £16.17m

Winning eight league phase games:  £14.56

Finishing top of league table:  £8.6m

Finishing in positions 1st-8th:  £1.74m

Qualifying for Round of 16:  £9.55m

Win in Round of 16:  £10.85m

Win in Quarter-final:  £13.02

Win in Semi-final:  £16.06m

Win Champions League:  £21.75m

Qualify for UEFA Super Cup:  £3.47m

Prize Money TOTAL:  £115.77m

Yes, you read that correctly. A team qualifying to the knockout stage by finishing in the top eight of the league table, and then going on to win the Champions League (which automatically qualifies you for the UEFA Super Cup), can earn around £115m in prize money.

In addition, UEFA has also introduced a new "value pillar" of payments which could be worth an additional £11m to clubs.

This is a complicated bonus based on your club's historical success in Europe and how much your country pays for its broadcast rights to the Champions League.

So in summary, whichever club wns the 2025-26 Champions League can expect to pocket around £125m from UEFA. Not bad work if you can get it!

Who do the English teams play?

We have some cracking games to look forward to during the league phase of this season's Champions League, not least the games featuring the six English teams.

Below are tables showing the eight fixtures for each of the six English teams and whether they play them at home (H) or away (a).

Are there any betting odds?

Yes, Betfair has plenty of markets for the 2025-26 Champions League both on the Betfair Sportsbook and the Betfair Exchange.

You can bet on any of the 36 teams to win the 2025-26 Champions League or if you fancy predicting how the league phase will pan out then you can have a punt on the League Phase Winner.

Other popular markets include To Reach The Final, or if it's a player bet you're after then the Top Goalscorer market is the one for you.

Liverpool and Barcelona currently share favouritism to win this season's Champions League, both available to back at 11/2, however it's Barcelona who are clear favourites at 9/2 to finish top of the league phase.

Below we have listed all teams that are priced up to and including 33/1 in the Winner market as well as showing you their odds to win the league phase and to reach the final.

Liverpool are joint favourites, have they won it before?

Yes, Liverpool are the most successful English team in the competition having been crowned European Cup/Champions League winners on six occasions. However, this falls way short of the competition's most successful club, Real Madrid, who have won the title a staggering 15 times.

Behind Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and AC Milan have each been in 11 finals (six wins for Bayern, seven for Milan), while Serie A side Juventus hold the record for the most finals lost having reached the final game nine times, winning just two and finishing as runners-up on seven occasions.

Below is a table showing the competition record of all of this season's participating clubs that have lifted the trophy at least once.

Can I bet on individual players?

Yes, the way to bet on individual players is via the Betfair Sportsbook's 2025-26 Top Goalscorer market. Simply select which player you think will score the most goals during the whole competition (league phase, play-offs and knockout games).

From this point onwards all players have the potential to play a maximum of 19 games - eight group games, two play-off games should the team they represent finish 9th-24th, and nine knockout games shoud the team they represent reach the final.

Last season, the top goalscorer honours were shared between Raphina and Serhou Guirassy with 13 goals each, and by pure coincidence, having played 14 games each. To play 14 games a player would require his team to reach the quarter-finals at least (if they are involved in the play-offs), or the semi-finals (if not involved in the play-offs).

So it goes without saying that the market leaders in the top goalscorer markets all represent clubs fancied to go deep in this season's Champions League, and it's equally no surprise to see Erling Haaland, who has scored an incredible 49 goals in 48 Champions League appearances top the list at 6/1.

Below you can see the first 10-named players in the market along with the team they represent, their odds, Champions League goals and appearances, and their goals per game ratio.

Now read more Football tips and previews here.