What Newcastle United need now in final 4 games to finish Champions League top 8 | OneFootball

The Champions League is now at the halfway point for Newcastle United and the other 35 clubs in the Swiss League stage.

All clubs play eight different opponents, four of them at home and four away.

So far the results for Eddie Howe’s side read: Newcastle 1 Barcelona 2, Union S-G 0 Newcastle 4, Newcastle 3 Benfica 0, Newcastle 2 Athletic Bilbao 0.

This is only the second season of the new 36 Swiss League format of the Champions League.

Remember, the top eight will automatically go through to the last 16 knockout stage.

Whilst those finishing 9th to 24th will go into two-legged play-offs to decide the other eight that will make up the final 16.

This is how the 2025/26 Champions League table currently looks now on Thursday (6 November 2025) morning:

As you can see, Newcastle United currently in sixth place in the Champions League table, safely inside the top eight automatic qualifying spots at the halfway point, only three points off the very top spot.

These are the remaining four Newcastle United Champions League matches:

Tuesday 25th November: Olympique Marseille vs Newcastle United (kick-off 8pm BST)

Wednesday 10th December: Bayer Leverkusen vs Newcastle United (kick-off 8pm BST)

Wednesday 21st January: Newcastle United vs PSV Eindhoven (kick-off 8pm BST)

Wednesday 28th January: Paris Saint-Germain vs Newcastle United (kick-off 8pm BST)

So what will be needed once all eight rounds of matches have been played, to automatically qualify for the knockout last 16 as one of the top eight, or next best, ensure you are one of the 16 clubs going into the play-offs due to finishing between 9th and 24th.

This is what happened last season in the Swiss League stage of the 2024/25 Champions League, how the table ended up:

Taking that as a guide.

As you can see, 16 points guaranteed top eight and automatic qualification to the knockout stages.

So this would mean Newcastle United needing seven points more, two wins and a draw from Marseille (away), Leverkusen (away), PSV (home) and PSG (away).

Whilst when it came to getting a place in the play-offs last season, Club Brugge finished 24th with 11 points and a -4 goal difference.

Newcastle United currently have nine points and a +8 goal difference, so a couple of draws in the final four games would surely at least better what Club Brugge managed. However, it looks like 12 points would almost certainly make absolutely sure of a top 24 spot, so NUFC needing one win or three draws in the final four games to get to 12 points. Napoli are currently in 24th place with four points and a -5 goal difference, so 12 points I reckon would very definitely get a play-off place.