Champions League Draw: How many teams are missing to get into the league phase?

The draw for the League Phase of the UEFA Champions League will be on Thursday, August 28 in Monaco. There are still seven participants to be known who will advance in the 'play-off' of the new format, with 29 teams already directly qualified for the league phase.

The teams that are playing the final preliminary phase of the Champions League are: Kairat, Celtic, Pafos, Red Star, Sturm, Bodo/Glimt, Rangers, Club Brugge, Ferencváros, Qarabag Agdam, Basel, København, Fenerbahçe and Benfica.

This is how the final 'play-off' of the pre-Champions League is going

For the moment, Qarabag (Azerbaijan), Club Brugge (Belgium) and Pafos (Cyprus) are on track to qualify after their respective victories in the first leg against Ferecváros, Rangers and Red Star.

However, nothing is decided and they still have to face their respective rivals in the return leg, although with a clear advantage due to the result of the first leg and the power to close the ties at home. Qarabag won 1-3 in Turkey, as did Pafos in Belgrade. Brugge, on the other hand, obtained a minimal advantage in Glasgow (1-2).

For its part, Bodo/Glimt thrashed Sturm 5-0 at home, so they practically secured their place in the league unless a disaster occurs for them in the return leg.

The rest of the teams were tied in their respective matches, leaving the return leg completely open for Basel-Copenhagen, Celtic-Kairat and Fenerbahce-Benfica. In case of a tie on aggregate, there will be penalties directly, without extra time.

This is how the draw for the 25/26 Champions League league phase will be

The draw will be made according to the pots in which the teams are located, these were divided according to their individual coefficient. The current champion Paris Saint-Germain will be the top seed, so they will be placed in pot 1. The process is computerized and automated, ensuring its transparency.

To determine the rivals of each club, a physical ball will be drawn and then the system will select its eight matches. The clubs will face two others from each pot, with four home matches and four away matches. In the league there will be no matches between teams from the same country and no more than two opponents of the same nationality.

At the moment, the pots are formed as follows:

• Pot 1: PSG, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern, Liverpool, Inter, Chelsea, Dortmund and FC Barcelona.
• Pot 2: Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, Atlético de Madrid, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus and Eintracht (two teams are missing depending on the results of the play-off).
• Pot 3: Tottenham, PSV, Ajax, Napoli, Sporting, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Marseille (two teams are missing depending on the results of the play-off).
• Pot 4: Monaco, Galatasaray, Union SG, Athletic and Newcastle (three teams are missing depending on the results of the play-off).

The other team pending to know to which pot of the draw it will belong is Tottenham. The current champion of the Europa League awaits the results of the 'play-off' to determine if it enters 'pot 2' or 3.

The Champions League final will be in the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary, on May 30, 2026. On average, according to the league phase of 24/25, each club needs to exceed the barrier of 15 points (5 wins) to advance among the top eight directly to the round of 16.

From 9th to 24th place, 12 points would be enough to qualify, as long as the goal difference is positive. These 16 teams will play an additional 'play-off' in February to define the other eight qualified for the round of 16.