League

The UEFA Champions League is Europe's premier club competition and the most prestigious annual tournament in world club football. It brings together the best teams from every UEFA member federation in a season-long knockout that culminates in a single-match final held at a neutral venue each June. Since 2024-25 the competition has run under an expanded 36-team league phase format, replacing the traditional group stage and producing more high-profile fixtures than ever before.

The 2025-26 Champions League continues the second season of the league-phase model: 36 clubs, each playing eight fixtures against eight different opponents drawn from four seeded pots. The top eight teams progress directly to the Round of 16 while sides ranked 9-24 enter a two-legged knockout play-off. Reigning European champions continue to face a stacked field featuring Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter, with the Final scheduled for 30 May 2026 at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest.

36 clubs contest an eight-match league phase — no return fixtures. The top eight sides in the single table advance straight to the Round of 16. Teams finishing 9th to 24th play a two-legged knockout round play-off in February; sides finishing 25th to 36th are eliminated altogether, with no drop to the Europa League. From the Round of 16 onwards the competition reverts to a traditional two-legged knockout format up to the Final, which is a single match at a pre-selected neutral venue.

The Champions League has no promotion/relegation of its own. Entry is decided by domestic league finishing positions — the exact allocation per country is set by UEFA's five-year association coefficient. Domestic champions of the lowest-ranked federations enter at early qualifying rounds; top-ranked leagues send up to four automatic entrants, with a possible fifth place through UEFA's performance-based coefficient rankings introduced in 2024.

• Real Madrid — Record 15-time European champions and the tournament's benchmark club.
• Manchester City — 2023 treble winners under Pep Guardiola, chasing sustained European hegemony.
• Bayern Munich — Six-time winners and Germany's ever-present standard-bearer.
• Paris Saint-Germain — French champions building a new post-Mbappé identity under Luis Enrique.
• Inter Milan — 2023 and 2025 finalists, tactical exemplar of Simone Inzaghi's 3-5-2.

The tournament was launched in 1955 as the European Cup, originally a straight knockout between national champions. Real Madrid won the first five editions and remain the competition's dominant force with 15 titles. The 1992-93 rebrand to UEFA Champions League introduced a group stage and opened entry to non-champions from the biggest leagues — a change that accelerated the sport's commercial expansion. The 2024 league-phase reform was the most significant format change since 1992 and reflects UEFA's response to sustained pressure from Europe's biggest clubs.