Champions League Fixtures: Last-16 draw set for Friday with bracket and dates revealed
Sixteen teams will discover their opponents in the Champions League knockout draw on Friday 27 February at 11: 00 GMT (6: 00 a. m. ET), a moment that also places every club on one side of the bracket and maps potential quarter-final and semi-final routes — an immediate order-setting step for the champions league fixtures as the competition moves into two-legged ties.
Champions League Fixtures: draw time and location
The draw takes place at 11: 00 GMT on Friday 27 February in the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland, and will be streamed live on UEFA. com, UEFA. tv and the official UEFA Champions League app; it will also be broadcast on TNT Sports and Discovery+ in the UK, giving fans live access to the pairings and bracket positions.
Who is already in the hat and who is on course
Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur are already in the hat for the last 16, while Newcastle are on course to reach the round after a 6-1 win over Qarabag in their play-off first leg in Azerbaijan; Newcastle then had a meeting in the North-East on Tuesday.
How the play-offs feed the last 16 and match dates
The eight winners of the two-legged knockout phase play-offs will join the top eight sides from the league-phase table in the draw; from this point onward the competition adopts a knockout format with each fixture other than the final contested over two legs. The last-16 first legs will take place on either 10 or 11 March, with the reverse fixtures scheduled for 17-18 March.
Seeding rules that affect home advantage in ties
As with the play-offs, teams' final ranking in the league phase will influence seeding in the last 16: seeded sides — those that finished in the top eight of the league phase — are given the advantage of playing second legs at home. This season also links league-phase position to seeding in the quarter-finals and semi-finals: teams finishing first to fourth will be seeded for the quarter-finals and therefore play the second leg of those ties at home, while the two sides who finish top and runner-up will be seeded for the semi-finals and, should they reach that stage, play the second leg at home. If a seeded team does not progress, the team that knocks them out will inherit their seeding position.
Selected club paths and possible opponents
Clubs already know the pools they can draw from. Top seeds Arsenal will be drawn against one of Olympiakos, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen or Atalanta. Liverpool, who sealed automatic progression by finishing third in the league phase, will meet one of Atletico Madrid, Galatasaray or Juventus; in principle the Reds will be away for the first leg on March 10 or 11 and then host the return at Anfield on March 17 or 18. Manchester City will be drawn against one of Bodo/Glimt, Inter Milan, Real Madrid or Benfica.
Chelsea’s route and broadcast details
Chelsea reached this stage courtesy of a 3-2 success in Naples last month, which secured a top-eight finish in the league phase and meant the Blues avoided the play-off round. Due to the seeded structure, Chelsea will face either Newcastle United, Qarabag, Paris Saint-Germain or Monaco in the Round of 16; PSG beat Monaco 3-2 in the Principality last week and reconvene in Paris on Wednesday evening. Should Chelsea advance from their Round of 16 tie, they would play either Galatasaray, Juventus, Tottenham, Liverpool, Atletico Madrid or Club Bruges in the quarter-finals. The winners of the semi-final on the silver side of the bracket will be designated as the nominal home team for the final.
The dates for the remainder of the knockout phase are as follows: unclear in the provided context.
The Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary will host the 2025-26 final on 30 May; next confirmed on-field milestones are the last-16 first legs on 10 or 11 March and the return fixtures on 17-18 March.
