Champions League draw – when is it, how to watch it, and how does it work?

The draw for the league phase of this season’s Champions League takes place on Thursday 28 August in Monaco.

The format remains the same as the 2024-25 season, when the 36-team league phase was introduced to replace the 32-team group stage format. 27 teams have qualified through their league position, and will be joined by the UEFA Champions League and Europa League winners as well as seven sides who qualify through the play-offs.

The teamto fs are split into four pots of nine, with teams placed in specific pots based on their own UEFA coefficient. Each team will be drawn out individually, starting with pot one, and they will be selected against eight opponents by UEFA’s automated software. They will face two teams from each pot, with four games at home and a further four away.

No team are able to face a team from their own country until the knockout stages, and can only play a maximum of two matches against teams from the same country.

This procedure will continue until all 36 teams have had their fixtures decided. The fixture list with match dates and kick-off times, meanwhile, must be published by Saturday, 30 August.

Who is in each pot?

Pot 1: Paris Saint-Germain (UCL holders), Real Madrid, Manchester City, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund.

Pot 2: Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus, Eintracht Frankfurt, Benfica, Club Brugge.

Pot 3: Tottenham* (UEL holders), PSV Eindhoven, Ajax, Napoli, Sporting CP, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Marseille and Bodo/Glimt.

Pot 4: Monaco, Galatasaray, Union Saint-Gilloise, Athletic Bilbao, Newcastle, Kairat, Pafos, Qarabag, Copenhagen.

How to watch

TV: In the UK, the draw will be broadcasted on the TNT Sports 1 channel. 

Streaming: You can watch the draw live for free on UEFA.com or the TNT Sports YouTube channel.

Hayters will be live blogging the whole draw on our website.