From this season, 36 instead of 32 clubs will start the Champions League. The previous group phase is replaced by a league phase made up of all 36 participating clubs. Each team plays eight different opponents in the league phase. Only one home or one away game will be played against each opponent. The opponents will be determined as part of the draw of the league phase on Thursday night.
The results of the eight matchdays in the league phase will produce an overall table. The top eight teams from that table go straight through to the Round of 16. The other eight places for the Round of 16 will be determined by a play-off round with home and away legs. That will involve the teams from places 9 to 16 against the teams from places 17 to 24. Teams in places 25 to 26 in the overall table will go out of the Champions League and European competition as there will no longer be the transfer to the Europa League as in previous seasons.
The eight clubs who progress from the play-off round will complete the Round of 16 line-up. The draw will decide who the top eight teams in the final table play. The Round of 16 ties will be played in home and away legs with the best eight teams at home in the second leg. The Champions League will return to the current format from the Round of 16.
The draw for the league phase sees the 36 participating clubs allocated to four pots according to UEFA club coefficients. Bayer 04 are in pot two. The Werkself, like every other club, will play two teams from all four pots.
Each club will be drawn manually once with computer software determining the eight opponents and whether the matches are at home or away. Matches between two clubs from the same country are not possible in the league phase.
The dates for the league phase fixtures will not be released on the same day as the draw but instead will be announced by UEFA on Saturday, 31 August.
Pot 1:
Real Madrid
Manchester City
Bayern Munich (not possible)
Paris Saint-Germain
Liverpool
Inter Milan
Borussia Dortmund (not possible)
RB Leipzig (not possible)
Barcelona
Pot 3:
Feyenoord
Sporting CP
PSV Eindhoven
Dinamo Zagreb
FC Salzburg
Lille OSC
Red Star Belgrade
Young Boys
Celtic
Pot 2:
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Atletico Madrid
Atalanta
Juventus
Benfica
Arsenal
FC Brugge
Shakhtar Donetsk
AC Milan
Pot 4:
Slovan Bratislava
AS Monaco
Sparta Prague
Aston Villa
Bologna
Girona
VfB Stuttgart (not possible)
SK Sturm Graz
Stade Brestois
Bayer 04 automatically go into the UEFA Youth League due to the qualification of the first team for the Champions League. The six matchdays in the European U19 competition will be played on the same matchdays as the Champions League games. The only difference is the Youth League will not be played on matchdays seven and eight of the Champions League in the New Year. The youth competition will only be played on the first six matchdays. Following the league phase, this Champions League route and the so-called champions route, involving all European league champions, will be brought together for the knockout phase. From there, the opponents in the Youth League will be drawn and no longer linked to the Champions League draw as in the league phase.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have signed 16-year-old midfield prospect Gabriel Minutillo on a long-term contract. The Germany youth international will play for the U19s this season.
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Bayer 04 preparations for the 2026/27 season are in full swing, with the first friendly now under their belts. Although there are still around seven weeks to go until the first Bundesliga home game in early September, there is already huge anticipation for the start of competitive action for head coach Carles Martínez’s team at the BayArena. For the Bundesliga home matches of the new season, here is the latest information regarding the first phase of single-match ticket sales. The tried-and-tested early-bird phase remains in place. From 23 to 31 July, tickets for matches will go on sale on weekdays; the early-bird phase ends on 5 August at the latest – provided tickets are still available by then.
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Like last year, Bayer 04 Women held their summer training camp in Rieden. Coach Roberto Pätzold gives his assessment of the time in the Upper Palatinate, discusses the integration of the 11 new players and the unusual team building measures, gives his thoughts on the friendly and looks ahead to the start of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga season in August.
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Just in time for the start of the summer holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Werkself will hold another open training session on Tuesday 21 July. The session at the BayArena is scheduled to start at 11:00 CEST and will again be available to watch in a live stream. The fans who are there can look forward to a very special surprise.
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Bayer 04 Women rounded off their one-week training camp in the Upper Palatinate with their second friendly win of pre-season. Coach Roberto Pätzold's side beat Czech top-flight outfit Slovan Liberec 6-0 in a match consisting of 4 x 30 minutes. Maja Sternad (8'), Caroline Kehrer (55'), Natasha Kowalski (67', 84') with two direct free kicks, Valentina Mädl (97') and Justine Brandau (107') scored the goals for Leverkusen at 1.FC Rieden's Fenstertechnik-Weinfurtner-Arena.
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