Liverpool will find out their Champions League league phase opponents on Thursday with the draw taking place in Monaco at 5pm
The Liverpool FC card ahead of the 2025/26 knockout stages draw
The Liverpool FC card ahead of the 2025/26 knockout stages draw(Image: Kristian Skeie - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
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Liverpool now know who they could face in the Champions League league phase after the qualifying play-off round concluded on Wednesday night. AEK Athens, Slovan Bratislava, Fenerbahce and Viking all came through their final qualifiers to complete the 36-team quota for this season’s tournament.
The draw for the league phase will take place in Monaco at 5pm today (Thursday, August 27) with Liverpool one of 29 teams who were already assured of their place after qualifying automatically at the end of last season.
Sabah, Bodo/Glimt and LASK joined them on Tuesday night after dispatching Hapoel Be’er Sheva, NEC and Celtic respectively on a goal-laden night in qualification.
Sabah progressed 6-4 on aggregate after a 5-2 win on the night, while a 3-0 win Bodo/Glimt earned a 6-1 aggregate victory.
Meanwhile, Celtic surrendered a 4-0 aggregate lead to lose 5-1 after extra-time on the night to LASK and 5-4 on aggregate to miss out on a place in this season’s league phase.
That left four final spots up for grabs on Wednesday night, with all four ties level on aggregate heading into the second legs.
After a 0-0 draw in Sofia in the first leg, AEK Athens progressed courtesy of a 4-0 over Levski Sofia in the return leg in the Greek capital. Slovan Bratislava booked their place in the final 36 after a 2-1 win at Celje, following on from a 1-1 draw in the first leg, while Fenerbahce emerged victorious, 2-1 at Lyon, after another first-leg 1-1 draw.
And, lastly, Viking rounded up the 36 following a 3-1 home win over Dinamo Zagreb after fighting out a 2-2 draw in the first leg.
Courtesy of Bodo/Glimt winning on Tuesday night, the identities of the teams in each of the four pots was already confirmed ahead of the final qualification fixtures with the winners of Lyon and Fenerbahce completing pot three, and the final qualifiers going into pot four.
But with qualification now complete, Liverpool now know which sides they can be drawn against in this season’s Champions League league phase.
Who Liverpool can face in the Champions League league phase
Pot One
Paris St-Germain (France)
Bayern Munich (Germany)
Real Madrid (Spain)
Internazionale (Italy)
Barcelona (Spain)
Atletico Madrid (Spain)
Pot Two
Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
Roma (Italy)
Sporting (Portugal)
Porto (Portugal)
Club Brugge (Belgium)
Real Betis (Spain)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Pot Three
Feyenoord (Netherlands)
Lille (France)
Bodo/Glimt (Norway)
Napoli (Italy)
RB Leipzig (Germany)
Villarreal (Spain)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
Galatasaray (Turkey)
Fenerbahce (Turkey)
Pot Four
Viking (Norway)
Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
LASK (Austria)
AEK Athens (Greece)
Como (Italy)
Lens (France)
Sabah (Azerbaijan)
As in the last two seasons, each team will face eight different teams once, with four home matches and four away matches. They will face two sides from each of the four pots, but cannot face a team from the same country as themselves.
Manchester City and Arsenal are also in pot one, along with the Liverpool, while Aston Villa and Manchester United are in pot two.
While Andoni Iraola’s men are unable to face their domestic rivals in the league phase, they can be drawn against Premier League opposition during the knock-out stages.
Meanwhile, the Reds can also not host Real Madrid at Anfield having welcomed the La Liga giants to Merseyside in each of the past two seasons due to UEFA regulations. They can, however, meet at the Bernabeu if the pair are drawn together in a tie which would see Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ibrahima Konate lock horns with their former team-mates.
Elsewhere, the likes of Luis Diaz and Curtis Jones could also face the possible prospect of a reunion with their former club if the Reds were drawn against Bayern Munich or Internazionale.