The draw for the Round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League will take place Friday at 12:00 Central European Time (CET) at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland, UEFA announced.
The draw will pair the eight group stage leaders – Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, Chelsea, Sporting CP, and Manchester City – with the eight winners of the newly introduced knockout phase play-offs. Those play-off victors are Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Newcastle United, Atlético Madrid, Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen, Galatasaray, and Bodø/Glimt.
The eight group stage leaders will be seeded in the Round of 16 draw. Clubs will be matched based on their positions at the end of the league phase to form four seeded pairings (teams in positions 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8). The play-off winners will then be drawn against these seeded pairings, with their position determined by the play-off draw.
Four pots will be used for the draw, with each pot containing the two teams from a specific pairing based on their league phase ranking. The draw will assign the bracket placement for all qualified teams, starting with the teams ranked 7/8 and ending with those ranked 1/2. A ball containing the two teams from each pairing will be drawn, revealing the team’s placement on either the “silver” or “blue” side of the bracket.
Teams from the same national association can be drawn against each other in the Round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals. Clubs can similarly be drawn against teams they previously faced during the league phase.
The Round of 16 matches are scheduled for March 10/11 and March 17/18, 2026. The quarter-finals will be played on April 7/8 and April 14/15, 2026, followed by the semi-finals on April 28/29 and May 5/6, 2026. The final will be held on May 30, 2026, at Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary.
UEFA has stated that match schedules will adhere to the UEFA Match Calendar, with exceptions potentially made by the UEFA administration. The calendar for the Round of 16 matches will be released following the draw. Dates for the quarter-final and semi-final matches will be communicated on March 19 and April 16, respectively.
This season marks the first time the Champions League has featured six clubs from a single nation, with England benefiting from an additional spot earned through UEFA coefficient ranking and Tottenham Hotspur’s victory in the previous season’s UEFA Europa League.
