Champions League draw live: Start time and TV channel as Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea discover 2025/26 league phase opponents today

Pot 1: PSG, Real Madrid, Man City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona

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

Pot 4: Copenhagen, Monaco, Galatasaray, Union Saint-Gilloise, Qarabag, Athletic Club, Newcastle, Pafos, Kairat.

The league phase has 36 teams with every team handed eight games. The 36 teams are split into four pots of eight teams based on their Uefa coefficient, with the opponents generated by automated software.

The opponents then come from each pot, with two teams selected from each, one home and one away.

Teams cannot play another team from the same country and are not permitted to face more than two teams from one country.

Those finishing inside the top eight go straight into the last 16, then the next 16 teams advance to the play-off stage, with eight of those 16 teams progressing to the last 16.

The draw will be held in Monaco on Thursday, 28 August and begins at 5pm BST (6pm CET). The first balls will be drawn at around 5:30pm.

How to watch the Champions League draw

Uefa and TNT Sports will both offer a free live stream on their websites and YouTube channels.

The Gunners reached the semi-finals last term, losing out to PSG 3-1 on aggregate after thrashing both PSV and Real Madrid before their final four exit.

And Luis Enrique’s side went on to thump Inter Milan 5-0 in the final and have since edged past Spurs on penalties in the Uefa Super Cup earlier this month, denying Thomas Frank a trophy in his first game in charge.

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of tonight’s Champions League league phase draw.

Six Premier League clubs will find out their opponents across the opening eight games of the competition, with Liverpool, Arsenal, City, Chelsea, Newcastle and Spurs all eager to find out how difficult their routes to the knockout rounds are.

And we’ll have all the latest updates from Monaco right here.