Connect with us

Soccer

UEFA Champions League draw winners and losers: Toughest schedules, softest path for 2025/26 league phase participants

The new UEFA Champions League format was met with nearly universal praise last season, and for the 2025/26 campaign UEFA is re-racking the concept and running with it again.

Aided by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Kaka, the Champions League draw on August 28 confirmed the fates of all 36 league-phase participants, from the biggest clubs in the world to six teams making their first appearances this deep in Europe’s top competition.

The new format of the competition has scrapped the old group stage, with each club now pitted against eight opponents from all across Europe, two each from the four draw pots, which correlate to tiers of competition. While all 36 teams are handed difficult and more simple tasks alike, there is still room for some imbalance.

The Sporting News has analysed the draw and presented the clubs which have the toughest and simplest pathways to the knockout rounds.

MORE: A full roundup of all the matchups from the Champions League 2025/26 league phase draw

UEFA Champions League draw winners and losers

Winners: Ajax, Arsenal, Tottenham

Everything starts in Pot 1, from whom lucky recipients get one or both of Inter Milan, Chelsea, or Borussia Dortmund. That is not to say these teams provide an easy three points — far from it. However, they are certainly, on paper at least, a less daunting prospect than the likes of PSG, Barcelona, or Real Madrid, for example.

Incredibly, only one team in the entire field managed to pull two of those three lower-tier Pot 1 teams: Dutch giants Ajax. As a result, they seem to have one of the softest draws in the entire field. They will play Chelsea on the road while welcoming Inter to Amsterdam. They also drew Benfica and Villarreal from Pot 2, which are both gettable games. Pot 3 was less kind, as they pulled Olympiacos and Marseille, while they will face Galatasaray and Qarabag in Pot 4. Overall, that’s a kind slate and could give them a chance to qualify.

Both North London sides also have a kind schedule, with Tottenham and Arsenal handed a relatively simple pathway forward.

For the Gunners, themselves a dangerous Pot 2 pull, they drew Bayern Munich at home and Inter Milan on the road from Pot 1. From there, they will welcome Atletico Madrid to Emirates Stadium while traveling to Belgium for a meeting with Club Brugge from Pot 2. The rest of their slate includes home matches against Olympiacos and Kairat, avoiding a daunting trip east to Kazakhstan, while they will visit Slavia Prague and Athletic Club.

Thomas Frank will also enjoy his first Champions League jaunt. Tottenham, a Pot 3 pitfall in their own right, pulled a home match against Borussia Dortmund plus a daunting road trip to defending champions PSG from Pot 1. From there, it gets much simpler. They will see Villarreal, Slavia Prague, and Copenhagen come to London while visiting Eintracht Frankfurt, Bodo/Glimt, and Monaco on the road.

Softest Champions League draw 2025/26

Ajax: Inter Milan (H), Chelsea (A), Benfica (H), Villarreal (A), Olympiacos (H), Marseille (A), Galatasaray (H), Qarabag (A).

Arsenal: Bayern Munich (H), Inter Milan (A), Atletico Madrid (H), Club Brugge (A), Olympiacos (H), Slavia Prague (A), Kairat (H), Athletic Club (A).

Tottenham: Borussia Dortmund (H), PSG (A), Villarreal (H), Eintracht Frankfurt (A), Slavia Prague (H), Bodo/Glimt (A), Copenhagen (H), Monaco (A).

Losers: PSG, Real Madrid, Newcastle, Bayer Leverkusen, Club Brugge

As the three clubs listed above count their blessings, a number of other sides will be fearful of what’s to come.

While Pot 1 presents a long list of dangers, other traps lie in waiting amongst the other three groups of clubs. In Pot 2, anyone drawing Arsenal will know they are in for trouble, while Juventus and Atletico Madrid can also be considered tough.

In Pot 3, Tottenham and Napoli are the most difficult, while a trip to Athens to face Olympiacos can be a troublesome journey. Pot 4 doesn’t present a ton of dangers outside of a daunting matchup against Newcastle or Galatasaray, although a brutally long trip to Champions League debutants Kairat could be difficult, as the Kazakhstani club are the eastern-most side to ever reach this far into the competition.

So who will be rueing their fate? There will be no tears shed for the giants, but Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, the last two winners of the competition, will have a tough go and could once again flirt with elimination as they both did at times last season.

Xabi Alonso will be dreading a trip to Anfield to take on Liverpool, where Trent Alexander-Arnold will have to face his former side and the likely hostile reception from fans who were angered by his manner of departure. Add in yet another home date with Manchester City, a club they’ve faced in each of the last four Champions League competitions and five of the last six, and Pot 1 was not kind. They avoided Arsenal and Tottenham but have to face Juventus from Pot 2, while drawing a pair of those dreaded road trips to Greece and Kazakhstan to top it off.

For the defending champions PSG, they are staring down a trip to the new Camp Nou to face Barcelona, while also welcoming Bayern Munich to Parc des Princes from Pot 1. Their Pot 2 opponents Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen were both sellers in the transfer window, but they were handed both Tottenham and Newcastle from the lower tiers, albeit both at home. They were not able to secure any games against the most lower-tier clubs, as they also pulled Sporting CP and Athletic Club from Pots 3 and 4.

Newcastle also pulled a tough Champions League slate for the second time in recent memory, starting with a Pot 1 draw of Barcelona and PSG. Benfica from Pot 2 should be a winnable game and Leverkusen are a little unknown this season, but Marseille, PSV, Athletic Club, and Union Saint-Gilloise from Pots 3 and 4 are all difficult pulls.

Also deserving mention is Erik ten Hag in his first season at Bayer Leverkusen, who were handed Pot 1 opponents of PSG at home and Man City on the road. Pot 2 wasn’t so unkind, as they will face Villarreal at home and Benfica on the road, but the later rounds were tough. A trip to Olympiacos in Pot 3 along with a home match against PSV are tough, and they will face Newcastle at home from Pot 4 plus a road trip to Copenhagen.

Maybe the most unkind draw of all went to Club Brugge from Pot 2. They will face Barcelona and Bayern Munich from Pot 1, while drawing Arsenal and Atalanta as fellow Pot 2 opponents. From Pot 3 they have to match up with Marseille and Sporting, and they were given the dreaded Kazakhstan road trip from Pot 4 along with a home date against Monaco.

Toughest Champions League draw 2025/26

Bayer Leverkusen: PSG (H), Man City (A), Villarreal (H), Benfica (A), PSV (H), Olympiacos (A), Newcastle (H), Copenhagen (A).

Club Brugge: Barcelona (H), Bayern Munich (A), Arsenal (H), Atalanta (A), Marseille (H), Sporting CP (A), Monaco (H), Kairat (A).

Newcastle: Barcelona (H), PSG (A), Benfica (H), Bayer Leverkusen (A), Marseille (H), PSV (A), Athletic Club (H), Union Saint-Gilloise (A).

Paris Saint-Germain: Bayern Munich (H), Barcelona (A), Atalanta (H), Bayer Leverkusen (A), Tottenham (H), Sporting CP (A), Newcastle (H), Athletic Club (A).

Real Madrid: Man City (H), Barcelona (A), Juventus (H), Benfica (A), Marseille (H), Olympiacos (A), Monaco (H), Kairat (A).

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Must See

More in Soccer