2025/26 Champions League: Teams, format, dates, draws, final
All you need to know about the 71st season of Europe's elite club competition.
www.uefa.comHere’s the latest available on the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League knockout bracket as of April 2026.
- Knockout phase structure and dates: 24 teams compete in knockouts, with a play-off round featuring teams ranked 9–16 and 17–24, leading to the Round of 16 and beyond. The final is scheduled for May 2026 in Budapest. This format detail and timing were confirmed in recent competition briefs.[1][2]
- Seedings and Round of 16 setup: The top eight league-phase finishers are seeded for the Round of 16, ensuring they host the second leg and gain a bracket advantage.[2]
- Current bracket status (as of late January–February 2026): Play-off ties determined which teams progressed to the Round of 16; several high-profile ties featured titles-contending clubs such as Arsenal, Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester City, and Bayern Munich in the mix, with other teams like Real Madrid, Chelsea, and PSG also appearing in or around the knockout picture.[4][9][10][2]
- Notable recent developments: The league phase concluded with 24 teams advancing to knockout playoffs, and playoff seeds/originating brackets have been published by multiple outlets, confirming matchups and home/away ordering for the two-legged rounds.[3][9][2]
If you’d like, I can pull the exact Round of 16 pairings and the full knockout bracket as a concise list or a neat bracket diagram. I can also provide a quick table showing each Round of 16 pairing, first and second leg dates, and aggregate winner potential based on current standings.
Citations:
- 2025–26 knockout phase overview and schedule.[1]
- Knockout phase seedings and Round of 16 structure.[2]
- Final standings and knockout playoff context.[9][10]