Barcelona will be in Pot 1 of seeds for the league phase draw of the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League, and for the second successive season it’s because Roma missed out on the final day.
Last season, Roma would have been in the Champions League had Atalanta finished in fifth place in Serie A, but they finished top four. This season, Juventus secured fourth place on the final day, again consigning Roma to the UEFA Europa League.
The Champions League holders and the eight clubs with the best performance in Europe over the past five seasons get a place in Pot 1. Roma are ranked ninth, with Barcelona in 10th. As Roma missed out, Barcelona move up to Pot 1.
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Manchester City also confirmed their place in Pot 1 with a 2-0 win at Fulham, ensuring they would finish third in the Premier League.
Chelsea, who play Real Betis in the UEFA Conference League final on Wednesday, will also be in Pot 1 after they won 1-0 at Nottingham Forest on the final day.
However, with each team being drawn against two clubs from the four pots to create eight fixtures, the seeding of the pots now has limited relevance — the teams in Pot 1 are not prevented from playing each other.
As this new system throws up so many alternatives, the majority of the draw is completed by a computer. A team will be drawn from Pot 1 in traditional style, and then the process of selecting that club’s opponents will be performed automatically.
The top eight go straight through to the round of 16, positions eight to 24 play in a two-legged knockout playoff round and those placed 25th to 36th are eliminated. There is no longer any dropdown into the Europa League.
The draw for the group stage takes place on Thursday, Aug. 28.
POT 1
Real Madrid
Manchester City
Bayern Munich
Liverpool
Paris Saint-Germain
Internazionale
Chelsea
Borussia Dortmund
Barcelona
POT 2
Arsenal
Bayer Leverkusen
Atlético Madrid
Benfica (must come through qualifying)
Atalanta
Villarreal
Juventus
Eintracht Frankfurt
Club Brugge (must come through qualifying)
Rangers (must come through qualifying)
Shakhtar Donetsk (must come through qualifying)
Pots 3 and 4 will depend upon which clubs come through qualifying, with Tottenham Hotspur moving up to Pot 2 if Benfica and/or Club Brugge fail to make it to the league phase. PSV Eindhoven are the only other club who can move up from Pot 3 to Pot 2.
Ajax Amsterdam, Napoli, Sporting CP, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague and Marseille are certain to be in Pot 3.
Pot 4 is the likely destination for Celtic, AS Monaco, Athletic Club and Newcastle United.