Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Champions League, UEFA, Arsenal, Football
Luke Davies
UEFA has made a rule change ahead of the 2025/26 Champions League following reported backlash from Arsenal after what happened during the previous edition of the competition.
In recent years, UEFA has made several changes to rules, formats and even created a new competition, the Conference League.
Last year, both the Champions League and Europa League were revamped. 36 teams competed in the league phase as opposed to 32 teams, which were previously split into eight groups of four up until the 2024/25 campaign.
Before the format change, the top two teams from each group progressed into the round of 16. However, now teams placed one to eight automatically qualify for the knockout stages, while teams placed ninth to 24th compete in a play-off.
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The new format, for the most part, was a success, but there were some teething problems surrounding where fixtures were played.
During the 2024/25 campaign, home advantage was decided by a random draw after the round of 16.
Essentially, a team that finished in a higher position in the group phase could still find themselves forced to play the first leg of the quarter-finals or semi-finals at home, which is widely considered to be a disadvantage.
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Most managers, players and supporters prefer to have the second leg at home due to the obvious advantages.
Arsenal fell victim to the system last season as they were forced to play Real Madrid at home in the first leg of their quarter-final despite finishing third in the league phase, while Los Blancos progressed through the play-off phase with a victory over Manchester City.
Despite defeating Madrid over two legs, the Gunners reportedly voiced their concerns about the format to UEFA, according to the Mirror.
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A change has since been made, according to UEFA’s Regulations of the Champions League document.
The body explains how “Seeded teams, i.e. teams ranked 1 to 4 after the league phase, play the return leg at home in the quarter-finals, and teams ranked 1 and 2 also play the return leg of the semi-finals at home. If a seeded team is beaten in any round, the team that eliminates them takes over their seeding position in the bracket path (i.e. the higher ranking for seeding purposes is not recalculated after each round)”.
So essentially, better-performing teams will be rewarded with home advantage in at least the quarter-finals.
League phase
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Matchday 1: 16–18 September 2025
Matchday 2: 30 September–1 October 2025
Matchday 3: 21/22 October 2025
Matchday 4: 4/5 November 2025
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Matchday 5: 25/26 November 2025
Matchday 6: 9/10 December 2025
Matchday 7: 20/21 January 2026
Matchday 8: 28 January 2026
Knockout phases
Knockout phase play-offs: 17/18 & 24/25 February 2026
Round of 16: 10/11 & 17/18 March 2026
Quarter-finals: 7/8 & 14/15 April 2026
Semi-finals: 28/29 April & 5/6 May 2026
Final: 30 May 2026 (Budapest)
According to Oddschecker, 2024/25 champions PSG are currently the favourites to win the 2025/26 edition of the competition, while Premier League outfit and six-time Champions League/European Cup winners Liverpool are second favourites.
Five-time winners Barcelona and 15-time champions Real Madrid are third and fourth favourites, respectively.
Arsenal (fifth), Manchester City (sixth), Bayern Munich (seventh), Chelsea (eighth), Napoli (ninth) and Newcastle (tenth) make up the top ten.