· 30 August 2025, 12:00
**The fixtures for this season's Champions League have been released following the draw on Thursday evening.**
Newcastle were drawn against some pretty impressive opposition on Thursday night and will kick off their latest foray into Europe's elite competition with a fixture worthy of the occasion.
Barcelona will visit St James' Park in game week one on 18th September.
Champions League games under the lights at St James' Park are always special, but as we proved against Paris Saint-Germain two seasons ago, we tend to really bring it when the big boys come to town. No doubt Barcelona will remember Tino Asprilla in 1997, because Newcastle fans certainly do.
> [](https://twitter.com/DomScurr/status/1961734775141552553)
The full set of fixtures has been released for the first phase of the Champions League
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Newcastle's league phase journey looks like this:
18/09: Barcelona (H)01/10: Union SG (A) 21/10: Benfica (H) 05/11: Athletic Club (H) 25/11: Marseille (A) 10/12: Bayer Leverkusen (A) 21/01: PSV (H)
28/01: PSG (A)
Get those passports ready!
Newcastle start and end their league phase fixtures with their Pot 1 opponents
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Bookending the league phase with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain is pretty special, not that there are any particularly easy fixtures in there, but saving the biggest for first and last is interesting.
The final game of the league phase on 28th January sees all teams playing at the same time, which causes chaos with the league table. Newcastle will know ahead of the game what is required of them if there's any chance of qualifying for the next round.
The Barcelona game isn't too far away. The excitement is building already.