It’s been 108 days since Paris Saint-Germain defeated Inter Milan 5–0 within the ultimate of the final UEFA Champions League. Since then, we’ve seen the FIFA Membership World Cup 2025, preseason friendlies, the switch window, and the beginning of home leagues—all main as much as this Tuesday’s kickoff of the brand new league part within the 2025–26 version.
The beginning of the brand new season brings a number of notable updates to Europe’s premier membership match, together with rule adjustments and unprecedented circumstances within the competitors’s historical past.
This 12 months, the Champions League will proceed with the format launched final season: a 36-team league part that replaces the standard group stage. Every membership will play eight matches on this spherical, incomes factors towards an total desk that determines the highest eight groups advancing on to the spherical of 16. The following 16 golf equipment will face off in a playoff to determine the remaining eight spots.
From that time on, a brand new rule will likely be carried out. The highest 4 groups within the standings after the preliminary part may have dwelling benefit within the second leg of every knockout spherical as much as the semifinals. The highest two groups will retain that benefit by means of to the ultimate. Nonetheless, if a lower-ranked staff knocks out one in every of these top-seeded golf equipment, it’s going to “steal” the benefit and carry it ahead into the following rounds.
PSG are the reigning Champions League winners.
Why the 2025–26 Champions League is historic for England
English golf equipment dominate the league part of the 2025–26 Champions League, as no different nation has as many representatives on this 12 months’s match. For the primary time in historical past, six Premier League golf equipment are competing within the European match on the identical time.
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UEFA’s newest rule change earlier than Champions League kickoff: Why Premier League groups may revenue
UEFA’s coefficient rating, which relies on previous efficiency by nation, granted England a fifth computerized qualification spot as a substitute of the same old 4. That allowed the highest 5 finishers in final season’s Premier League—Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester Metropolis, Chelsea, and Newcastle United—to e book their locations within the match.
Becoming a member of them is Tottenham Hotspur, who had a disappointing Premier League marketing campaign, ending seventeenth—simply avoiding relegation. Nonetheless, their triumph within the UEFA Europa League 2024–25 secured their place on this 12 months’s Champions League.
Champions League debutants
Three golf equipment are making their debut in the primary part of the Champions League this season. Royale Union St. Gilloise gained the Belgian Professional League final season for the primary time in almost 100 years and can get their shot at European competitors, opening Tuesday towards PSV Eindhoven.
Pafos FC from Cyprus certified by means of the preliminary rounds, eliminating Maccabi Tel Aviv, Dynamo Kiev, and Crimson Star Belgrade alongside the best way. In the meantime, Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan superior previous Olimpija Ljubljana, KuPS, Slovan Bratislava, and Celtic.
The 2025–26 Champions League ultimate heads to Hungary
One other new function of this 12 months’s Champions League is the situation of the ultimate. For the primary time in 65 years, Hungary will host the match’s deciding match. On Saturday, Could 30, 2026, the 2 finest groups in Europe will compete for the title on the Puskas Enviornment in Budapest.
