PSG puts its title back into play! Three months after his first historic coronation in the Champions League against Inter in Munich, the European champion goes back to the campaign. It is today (6 p.m.) that the draw for the 2025/2026 edition, the final of which will take place in Budapest on Saturday May 30 at 6 p.m., not at 9 p.m. and tradition. The title holder, placed in hat 1 supposed to offer him more affordable opponents, will know what sauce he will be eaten, in the same way as the other French clubs committed, OM, which finds the C1, and AS Monaco. The Phocaeans were placed in hat 3, while the princely club inherits the 4th hat and therefore risks meeting some big arms for this new European campaign.
Faced with the success of the new formula of the Champions League launched a year ago, UEFA decided to stay on the same model. There are therefore 36 qualified left in 4 levels, classified by their UEFA ranking. Each team will play 8 games against 8 different opponents (two per hat) with as many home meetings as it is outside. All participants will be classified in a global championship where the first 8 will be directly qualified for the round of 16. The 9th to 24th place teams will go through a tour of dams (or 16th finals) in the round-trip format, the winners in turn joining the 8th. This was the case for PSG and Brest last season for example, which clashed at this stage of the competition. Beyond this 24th place, the clubs are eliminated.
Human and IT draw
The draw will be carried out both by man and by the machine. An designated person will draw a training in hat 1 before pressing a button that will allow you to get all their opponents out on this first phase. The operation will then be repeated for the nine members of this group to unveil all the posters, of the 1st (Tuesday September 16 and Wednesday September 17) at the 8th day (Wednesday January 28, 2026). This last day will also be the occasion for a gigantic multiplex of 18 games which will define the final classification of each team. So beware of good and unpleasant surprises during this last meeting and a draw that can be trampher.
PSG learned him at his expense last year when he had to do with a very difficult calendar (Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Atlético de Madrid in particular). The capital's club ended up getting out of the extreme accuracy after a very laborious, even disturbing, competition. It is also proof that this first round, under this new version, is a real marathon. The European champion can again fear a complicated draw because he has sacred competitors in hat 2 (Arsenal, Bayer, Juventus, Atlético) and in hat 3 (Tottenham, Naples), in addition to serious opponents in the last hat (Galatasaray, Athletic, Newcastle). OM and Monaco can also expect heavy. Make way for the draw!
Full draw:
Hats 1 teams:
Hat teams 2:
Hats 3 teams:
Hats 4 teams:
The 36 qualified:
Hat 1: Paris Saint-Germain (France)Real Madrid (Spain), Manchester City (England), Bayern Munich (Germany), Liverpool (England), Inter Milan (Italy), Chelsea (England), Borussia Dortmund (Germany) and FC Barcelona (Spain)
Hat 2: Arsenal (England), Bayer Leverkusen (Germany), Atlético de Madrid (Spain), Benfica (Portugal), Atalanta (Italy), Villarreal (Spain), Juventus (Italy), Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany) and FC Bruges (Belgium)
Hat 3: Tottenham (England), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands), Naples (Italy), Sporting CP (Portugal), Olympiakos (Greece), Slavia Prague (Tchéquie), Bodo/Glimt (Norway) and Olympique de Marseille (France)
Hat 4: FC Copenhagen (Denmark), AS Monaco (France)Galatasaray (Türkiye), Union Saint-Gilloise (Belgium), Qarabag (Azerbaijan), Athletic Club (Spain), Newcastle (England), Pafos (Cyprus) and Kairat Almaty (Kazakhstan)
