The UEFA Champions League draw for the league phase works by first splitting the 36 teams into four pots based on their UEFA club coefficient rankings. Starting with Pot One, a team is drawn manually (from physical balls), after which an automated UEFA software selects that team's eight opponents, two from each of the other pots, assigning who plays home and away matches. Each team plays 8 matches in this league format against 8 different opponents (one home and one away against two teams from each pot). Key rules include: teams cannot face an opponent from the same country in this phase, and a team can play a maximum of two opponents from the same country. This process is repeated for each team in all four pots until all pairings are determined.

Draw Pots and Procedure

• Teams are divided into four pots of nine teams each, ranked by UEFA coefficient.
• Pot One contains the highest ranked clubs including the Champions League title holder.
• A ball is drawn from Pot One, the team is revealed, and then UEFA software selects 8 opponents (2 from each pot).
• This continues until all teams’ opponents are decided, then moves on to Pot Two, and so forth.

Match Setup

• Each team plays 8 matches: two opponents from each pot, home and away.
• No teams from the same national association face each other in this phase.
• Maximum of two opponents from the same country for any club.
• Match schedule and fixtures are released after the draw.

Format Context

This draw process is part of the newer 36-team "league phase" format that replaced the previous group stage format. The league phase draw happens once, followed by later knockout draws.

This approach combines manual drawing with automated assistance to ensure fairness and compliance with constraints while managing a more complex fixture schedule than in previous years.