Barcelona to face two Premier League teams in next season’s Champions League group stage | OneFootball

FC Barcelona enjoyed an extremely successful domestic campaign, winning three stories, but came up agonisingly short in the UEFA Champions League – falling to an extra-time semi-final defeat to Inter Milan.

Hansi Flick & co., as such, are aiming to go a couple of steps further in the upcoming season and lift the European Cup, ending Barça’s ten-year drought in the competition.

Two teams from the Premier League

According to ESPN, Barcelona are set to face two Premier League teams in the league phase of the 2025/26 Champions League.

This outcome is the result of the tournament’s revised format and the high number of English clubs in the competition.

Indeed, England will have six representatives next season – Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Newcastle United, and Tottenham Hotspur (Europa League winners).

UEFA regulations state that clubs from the same association cannot be drawn against each other in the group stage and that each team may face a maximum of two opponents from any one country.

Barcelona’s top objective for next season. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP) (c)

To comply with these restrictions, each of the six non-English teams in Pot 1 – including Barcelona – must be paired with two English clubs.

This creates a more challenging path for the La Liga champions. Instead of being drawn against lower-ranked clubs from Pots 2, 3, or 4, they may be drawn against sides such as Arsenal from Pot 2, or Tottenham and Newcastle from Pots 3 and 4.

This limits the chances of drawing less competitive teams like Ferencváros, Slavia Prague, or Red Star Belgrade.

These constraints do not affect the English clubs in the same way. They are guaranteed to avoid one another and will each be matched with two Pot 1 teams.

As a result, it is the non-English Pot 1 teams like Barcelona that face tougher fixtures due to the restricted draw options.

In last season’s group stage, Barcelona did not face any Premier League clubs. That will not be the case this time. The draw for the 2025/26 UCL league phase will take place on August 28.