Arsenal 2025/26 Champions League fixtures: Opponents revealed after draw

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Arsenal will take on Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid in this season’s Champions League in an otherwise kind draw for Mikel Arteta’s side.

The Gunners suffered heartache in their pursuit of a first men’s Champions League title last season and now look to go one step better under Arteta.

They reached the semi-finals for just the second time, losing to eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 on aggregate – leading to Arteta’s surprise assessment that they had been the best team in the Champions League that year.

But after a summer of big spending, which has seen Arsenal sign Viktor Gyokeres, Eberechi Eze and Martin Zubimendi in a £250m spree, there are more expectations on Arteta’s side this season and there will be no excuses if they fall short of a major honour this season.

Arsenal finished third in the new-look league phase last season, with an impressive six wins from their eight games, and have now found out their opponents for the upcoming campaign, along with the five other English teams in the draw.

Arsenal’s Champions League draw

Bayern Munich (H)

Inter (A)

Atletico Madrid (H)

Club Brugge (A)

Olympiacos (H)

Slavia Praha (A)

Kairat (H)

Athletic Bilbao (A)

When are Champions League fixtures released?

Scheduling the 36-team Champions League format, played across eight gameweeks from September to January, is a huge logistical challenge and therefore club’s fixtures and kick-off times have yet to be announced.

But Uefa has assured fans that the fixture list and kick-off times will be released no later than Saturday 30 August.

How does the league phase work?

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.

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