One thing is certain and that is the note with Bayer 04 Leverkusen written on it will be in pot three – together with seven other clubs. There are four pots in total containing all the 32 participants. Pot 1 contains the holders, the Europa League winners plus the champions from the six leagues with the highest coefficients. Pots 2 to 4 are determined according to the club coefficient rankings (based on the clubs' European results from the past five years).
Pot 1
Liverpool (holders, England), Chelsea (Europa League winners, England), Barcelona (Spain), Manchester City (England), Juventus (Italy), Bayern Munich (Germany), Paris St. Germain (France), Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia).
Pot 2
Real Madrid (Spain), Atlético Madrid (Spain), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Napoli (Italy), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Tottenham Hotspur (England), Benfica (Portugal), Ajax (Netherlands).
Pot 3
Olympique Lyon (France), Bayer 04, FC Salzburg (Austria), Valencia (Spain), Inter Milan (Italy), Olympiakos (Greece), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Club Brugge (Belgium).
Pot 4
Galatasaray (Turkey), RB Leipzig (Germany), Atalanta (Italy), OSC Lille (France), KRC Genk (Belgium), Red Star Belgrade (Serbia), Lokomotive Moscow (Russia), Slavia Prague (Czech Republic).
There are eight groups of four comprising one team from each of the four pots. The teams in Pot 1 automatically head the groups. No team can play another club from the same Association. Beyond that, the UEFA executive committee has decided there will be no games between clubs from Russia and Ukraine during the group stages.
If an association has several representatives then the relevant clubs are allocated in pairs for the fixtures to be played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. For example, if a club in such a pair is drawn in Groups A, B, C or D then the other club from this pair will be automatically allocated to Group E, F, G or H as soon as they are drawn. The draw also applies to the UEFA Youth League that involves the Bayer 04 U19s.
The draw will be streamed live by UEFA and broadcast from 17.30 CET on Sky Sport News HD.
The group stage begins on 17th/18th September and ends on 10/11 December. A few days later, on 16 December, the draw will be held for the Round of 16 to be played between 18 February and 18 March 2020. The final on 30 May 2020 will be played at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.
Matchday 1: 17/18 September
Matchday 2: 1/2 October
Matchday 3: 22/23 October
Matchday 4: 5/6 November
Matchday 5: 26/27 November
Matchday 6: 10/11 December
The starting date for the sale of tickets for individual matches is not yet set. Anyone who definitely wants to be at the Werkself home games in the group stage can already secure a package for all three fixtures at the BayArena. And at a special price giving 10% discount on the cost of individual match tickets. The package will be available after the draw as well. Season card holders with the BundesligaPLUS option will have the matches automatically loaded to the season cards at a discount rate of 20%. Further ticket information to follow.
The Werkself host Premier League club Arsenal in the Round of 16 first leg in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League campaign. The match at the BayArena is on 10/11 March. Read on for information on ticket sales for this fixture.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without Spanish player Lucas Vázquez for the time being. The experienced full-back and winger suffered an injury to his right calf during the Werkself's Champions League match against Olympiacos (0-0) on Tuesday.
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A goalkeeping era is coming to an end for Bayer 04 Women, with Friederike Repohl retiring when her contract expires at the end of the season. The 31-year-old has played for the Werkself since 2021 and also captained the team since last season. The Bielefeld-born keeper already made her decision during the winter break before her injury.
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Job done: the Bayer 04 eSports team defeated SV Darmstadt 98 in the play-offs to secure their consecutive participation in the VBL Club Championship final. The journey continues now for Leverkusen on Saturday 7 March (from 17:00 CET) with a last-16 encounter at Hamburger SV.
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The first international break in 2026 marks the start of the battle to qualify for the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil for a German and Austrian duo, while a quintet will conclude the U23 international season. A total of eight Leverkusen players will be on international duty with their national teams in the coming days.
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