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 secured a new premium partner in the form of DRIVIO. DRIVIO, already part of the club’s partner portfolio as a reliable car subscription partner for Bayer 04, will continue to support the club in this capacity and, with immediate effect, also join the premium group of companies that cooperate closely with the Werkself. The premium and car subscription partnership between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and DRIVIO will initially run until 30 June 2027.
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Following last weekend’s big game against Wolfsburg, Bayer 04 Women face another exciting challenge as they visit Hoffenheim to kick off Matchday 3 in the Google Pixel Bundesliga on Friday (kick-off: 18:30 CEST).
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Under the slogan ‘Holidays without War’, 60 children from war-torn Ukraine took part in the summer camp organised by the German-Ukrainian association Blau-Gelbes Kreuz in Leverkusen and the surrounding area in August. The children aged between 10 and 14 – many of whom have lost their parents in the war – come from the Ukrainian twin towns of Leverkusen, Cologne and Monheim am Rhein: Nikopol, Dnipro and Volodymyr. Bayer 04, Bayer AG and TSV Bayer 04 supported the camp to mark its 10th anniversary, enabling even more children and young people than in previous years to spend a few carefree days’ holiday away from the war in the Rhineland.
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Midfielder Ruby Grant is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen and joining Portuguese runners-up Sporting CP a year before her contract expires. The 24-year-old has been at the Werkself since January 2025.
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New to Leverkusen and straight up onto the roof at the BayArena: Guéla Doué has arrived. In an interview with Werkself TV, the new right-back talks about his previous links with Bayer 04 and how much he’s looking forward to his first home match. Have a look!
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