Uefa Champions League Draw: Last-16 opponents, dates and format
uefa champions league draw will take place on Friday at 11: 00 GMT, when sixteen teams will discover their opponents in the knockout phase. The draw will also allocate a side of the bracket so clubs will know potential quarter-final, semi-final and final routes.
Uefa Champions League Draw details
Sixteen teams enter the knockout draw: the eight winners of the two-legged knockout phase play-offs will join the top eight sides from the league-phase table. The draw is scheduled for Friday February 27 and is listed at 11: 00 GMT, sometimes described in coverage as 11am.
Confirmed last-16 pairings and scores
Certain match-ups are already set as options for the last 16. Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur were already in the hat. Newcastle joined them in the last 16 after a 9-3 aggregate win over Qarabag in the play-off round.
Specific potential opponents from the play-offs are: Arsenal could be drawn against Bayer Leverkusen or Atalanta. Newcastle will face Chelsea or Barcelona. Liverpool will meet either Atletico Madrid or Galatasaray. Chelsea could be paired with Newcastle or Paris Saint-Germain. Manchester City can draw Bodo/Glimt or Real Madrid. Tottenham could meet Atletico Madrid or Galatasaray.
Recent play-off results that determine those options include Galatasaray coming through in extra time to beat Juventus 7-5 on aggregate, Atletico Madrid securing their place by overcoming Club Brugge on aggregate on Tuesday evening, and Galatasaray emerging as winners from their two-legged knockout play-off tie with Juventus on Wednesday night.
Schedule and match dates
Last-16 first legs will take place on either 10 or 11 March, with the reverse fixtures scheduled for 17-18 March. Liverpool's tie in particular is scheduled with the first leg on March 10/11 and the return fixture at Anfield on March 17/18.
The Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary will host the 2025-26 final on 30 May.
Seeding, bracket and inheritance
From this point onward the competition adopts a knockout format, with each fixture other than the final contested over two legs. The eight winners of the play-offs will meet the top-eight finishers from the league phase. 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—are given the advantage of playing second legs at home.
This is the first season that league-phase positions will also influence seeding for the quarter-final and semi-finals. Teams finishing first to fourth at the end of the league phase will be seeded for the quarter-finals and therefore given the home advantage in their quarter-final tie second legs. The two sides who finish top and runner-up in the league will also be seeded for the semi-finals, earning them the benefit of playing the second leg of their semis at home should they reach that stage. If a seeded team does not progress to the quarter or semi-finals, the team that knocks them out will inherit their seeding position.
English sides and potential ties
The earliest opportunity for two English sides to meet is in the last 16, when Newcastle could come up against Chelsea. The earliest opportunity for any other all-English meetings is in the quarter-finals, when Manchester City could meet Arsenal, and Chelsea or Newcastle could meet Tottenham or Liverpool in a later round. At the start of the week, English sides that progressed to the last 16 knew their opponents would be one of four sides; with the midweek play-offs concluding that list narrows to two for Friday's draw.
Other confirmed pathways shaped by play-off results include Bodo/Glimt eliminating Inter Milan and therefore facing either Manchester City or Sporting, Bayer Leverkusen set to play Bayern Munich or Arsenal, Real Madrid set up to face Sporting or Manchester City, and Atalanta's defeat of Borussia Dortmund meaning they will play Arsenal or Bayern Munich. Paris Saint-Germain saw off Monaco on Wednesday and the holders are set to face Chelsea or Barcelona.
Questions remain for clubs and supporters: could seven Premier League clubs qualify for the Champions League, and are Italian clubs on the brink of a historic Champions League embarrassment? The draw on Friday will clarify the last-16 grid and map out potential quarter-final and semi-final routes.
