Spanish newspaper: Real Madrid receives nightmare in Champions League

Real Madrid will have a long away trip to face Kazakhstani side Kairat near the Chinese border, after the Champions League league phase draw on August 29.

Champions League increases prize money to 2.6 billion USD (about 68,574 billion VND)

The draw for the 2025-2026 Champions League season took place in Monaco, with top Spanish clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona facing tough fixtures against strong opponents.

Real Madrid will have the longest away trip in the Champions League

Photo: Reuters

Real Madrid will have the longest and furthest away trip in the Champions League when they meet Kairat in Kazakhstan, near the Chinese border. "This is a trip of more than 6,000 km full of challenges and risks for coach Xabi Alonso and his team," said Spanish newspaper AS .

Real Madrid will play a total of 8 matches in the Champions League league phase, including home matches against Man City, Juventus, Marseille and Monaco, while away matches against Liverpool, Benfica, Olympiacos and especially Kairat. The specific schedule of these matches will be announced by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) before August 30.

Meanwhile, Barcelona face PSG, Eintracht Frankfurt, Olympiacos, Copenhagen at home, while facing Chelsea, Club Brugge, Slavia Prague and Newcastle away.

Strong Premier League clubs like Man City also have a tough schedule. The "Man City" will face Dortmund, Leverkusen, Napoli and Galatasaray at home, while facing Real Madrid, Villarreal, Bodo/Glimt and Monaco away.

Liverpool face Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, PSV and Qarabag at home, while they face Inter Milan, Eintracht Frankfurt, Marseille and Galatasaray away. Chelsea face Barcelona, ​​Benfica, Ajax, Pafos FC (Cyprus) at home, and Bayern Munich, Atalanta, Napoli and Qarabag away.

After the 2025-2026 Champions League season's league phase ends with 8 rounds, the top 8 teams will go straight to the round of 16. The 16 teams ranked from 9th to 24th will have to play a play-off round to compete for the remaining 8 spots, while the teams ranked from 25th to 36th will be eliminated.

From the knockout round, the home-away format will be retained until the semi-finals. The 2025-2026 Champions League final will take place at Puskas Stadium in Budapest, Hungary. Notably, the kick-off time for this season's Champions League final will be 11 p.m. on May 30, 2026, instead of 2 a.m. the next day as before (Vietnam time).

UEFA plans to hand out around $2.6 billion to clubs that qualify from the group stage. The Champions League winners could receive more than $116 million if they win all their matches. Reaching the final alone will bring in at least $21.5 million, and the team that lifts the trophy will pocket another $7.6 million.

Champions League prize money is calculated based on many categories, including: participation fee, match result bonus, group stage ranking bonus, knockout round bonus and television market value. This helps the Champions League continue to be the tournament with the highest prize fund at the club level worldwide , surpassing even FIFA's Club World Cup.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bao-tay-ban-nha-real-madrid-nhan-con-ac-mong-tai-champions-league-185250829085609261.htm