Determining the 36 clubs participating in the Champions League group stage: When will the draw be held?

(Dan Tri) - The final four teams participating in the group stage of the 2025/26 Champions League have been determined. The draw for this tournament will take place tonight.

* The Champions League group stage draw will take place at 11pm today (August 28) in Monaco. Dan Tri will report the event live.

In the Champions League play-off round that took place last night, Benfica excellently secured a ticket to the group stage after winning 1-0 against coach Mourinho's Fenerbahce. The Portuguese team took an early lead thanks to Kerem Akturkoglu.

Benfica eliminated coach Mourinho's Fenerbahce to win a ticket to the Champions League group stage (Photo: UEFA).

Fenerbahce's subsequent efforts were fruitless. They were even short-handed when Anderson Talisca received two yellow cards in just four minutes. This is the sixth consecutive season that coach Mourinho has been unable to participate in the Champions League.

The three remaining teams that won the final tickets like Benfica were Qarabag, Club Brugge, Copenhagen. A day earlier, three teams Pafos (Cyprus), Kairat (Kazakhstan) and Bodo Glimt (Norway) all won tickets to participate in the Champions League. Notably, they all participated in the Champions League for the first time.

So, up to now, the 36 teams participating in the Champions League group stage have been determined. They are divided into 4 seeded groups, based on the results of European cup competitions in the last 5 seasons.

Group 1 seeds : PSG, Real Madrid, Man City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Dortmund, Barcelona.

Group 2 : Arsenal, Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus, Frankfurt, Benfica, Club Brugge.

Pot 3: Tottenham, PSV, Ajax, Napoli, Sporting Lisbon, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Bodo Glimt, Marseille.

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

Seeded groups in the Champions League group stage (Photo: UEFA).

UEFA will draw based on prestigious software, to ensure fairness. Each club will face two teams from each seeding pot. They will play a total of 8 matches (4 home matches, 4 away matches).

The familiar rules still apply, such as teams not facing opponents from the same country and not meeting more than two clubs from the same footballing background.

The top eight teams in the group stage automatically qualify for the round of 16. The teams ranked 9-24 will participate in a play-off round to select the eight teams to enter the round of 16. The teams ranked 25-36 will be eliminated, instead of being pushed down to the Europa League as before.

Notably, from this season onwards, UEFA will give priority to teams with higher rankings in the group stage to play at home in the second leg of the knockout round. This ensures fairness for teams that have made an effort to compete in the group stage, avoiding the disadvantageous situation like Liverpool last season.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/xac-dinh-36-clb-tham-du-vong-bang-champions-league-bao-gio-boc-tham-20250828102910723.htm