On Thursday, the six English clubs qualified for the 2025/26 Champions League — Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham, and Newcastle — discovered their opponents for the newly structured 36-team, eight-match league phase.
Arsenal: Home to Bayern Munich, Atlético, Olympiakos, and Kairat Almaty; away to Inter, Club Brugge, Slavia Prague, and Athletic Club.
Chelsea: Host Barcelona, Benfica, Ajax, and Pafos; travel to Bayern Munich, Atalanta, Napoli, and Qarabag.
Liverpool: Welcome Real Madrid, Atlético, PSV, and Qarabag; away trips to Inter, Frankfurt, Marseille, and Galatasaray.
Manchester City: Play Dortmund, Leverkusen, Napoli, and Galatasaray at home; visit Real Madrid, Villarreal, Bodø/Glimt, and Monaco.
Newcastle: Home games against Barcelona, Benfica, PSV, and Athletic Club; away fixtures with PSG, Leverkusen, Marseille, and Union Saint-Gilloise.
Tottenham: Host Dortmund, Villarreal, Slavia Prague, and Copenhagen; on the road to PSG, Frankfurt, Bodø/Glimt, and Monaco.
These matchups also bring notable personal returns: former Spurs captain Harry Kane is set for a reunion with Arsenal; Kevin De Bruyne will visit Manchester with Napoli; and David Luiz is due back at Stamford Bridge with Pafos.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is also scheduled to face his current club, Liverpool, when Real Madrid visits Anfield.
However, due to a forthcoming UEFA rule amendment, Real Madrid will not be allowed to play at Anfield during the 2026/27 league phase, effectively ruling out that fixture the following season.
According to UEFA’s website, “the UEFA Club Competitions Committee has determined an additional condition that may be applicable to the UEFA Champions League draw for the 2026/27 season, deciding that any individual fixture between the same two teams may not be repeated in the same competition with the same home team for three consecutive seasons.
“This means that if any teams that already played against each other in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in the 2024/25 season are again drawn against each other, with the same home team, in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in this 2025/26 season, those teams will not be able to be drawn against each other with the same home team in the 2026/27 season (although, for the sake of clarity, those teams could still be drawn against each other at the venue of the other team)”.
So, due to Liverpool playing Madrid last season and this term at Anfield, if they were drawn next season, the match would take place at the Santiago Bernabeu.
