Who can Arsenal face in Champions League? Dream and nightmare draw revealed

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Evening Standard

·26 agosto 2025

Who can Arsenal face in Champions League? Dream and nightmare draw revealed

Gunners enjoyed an impressive league campaign in the competition’s new format last season

Your matchday briefing on Arsenal, featuring team news and expert analysis from Simon Collings

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Arsenal will learn their opponents in the league phase of the Champions League later this week.

Last season, the Gunners did not have too many issues with a brand new format after UEFA’s radical shake-up to the competition.

The previous group stage of eight groups consisting of four teams each was ditched in favour of a new league format and the north London outfit finished third en route to reaching the semi-final.

Once again, all of the 36 teams will be separated into four pots and two will be drawn from each. They will face eight different opponents, playing four matches at home and four away.

Arsenal are in Pot 2 for the draw, meaning they could face the likes of holders Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid - whom they beat comfortably in the quarter-final stage last season - from Pot 1.

The draw takes place on Thursday, August 28, 2025 at 5pm BST and much of it will be automated due to the sheer number of fixtures to be organised.

Play-off ties on Tuesday and Wednesday will decide the remaining qualifiers and complete the subsequent pots before Mikel Arteta learns who will be heading to the Emirates Stadium as he looks to take the team one step further than last season.

Which pot are Arsenal in for the Champions League draw?

Arsenal have been placed in Pot 2, as their current coefficient has them sat 15th in UEFA’s rankings for European teams.

Who can Arsenal face in the Champions League draw?

The ceremony will produce eight opponents for every team, two from each pot. That means Arsenal will play two of the top-ranked clubs.

They cannot play a team from their own country (Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle or Manchester City) at this stage and can only play a maximum of two teams from a different association.

Pot 1: PSG, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona

Pot 2: Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus, Eintracht Frankfurt

Pot 3: PSV, Ajax, Napoli, Sporting, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Bodo/Glimt, Marseille

Pot 4: Galatasaray, Union Saint-Gilloise, Athletic Club, Pafos, Kairat