Champions League draw: Trubin against Real again, plus all playoff pairs
Kyiv • UNN
The draw for the 2025/26 Champions League playoff round has taken place, with 16 teams competing for a spot in the round of 16. Among the participants are Ukrainian footballers and their clubs, who have learned their opponents.
The draw for the playoff round of the 2025/26 Champions League season has taken place. 16 teams learned their opponents, who will compete for a spot in the tournament's round of 16, UNN reports, citing the official Champions League website.
Details
Teams that finished 1st to 8th in the league stage immediately secured berths in the round of 16, while the rest entered the playoff round. Thus, the teams were divided into "seeded" (9th-16th places in the league stage) and "unseeded" (17th-24th places, respectively).
Among the "seeded" are Andriy Lunin's "Real Madrid" and Illia Zabarnyi's PSG. The "unseeded" include Roman Yaremchuk's "Olympiacos", Oleksiy Kashchuk's "Qarabag", as well as Anatoliy Trubin's and Georgiy Sudakov's "Benfica".
Playoff round pairs:
- «Monaco» (France) — PSG (France);
- «Benfica» (Portugal) — «Real» (Spain);
- «Qarabag» (Azerbaijan) — «Newcastle» (England);
- «Bodø/Glimt» (Norway) — «Inter» (Italy);
- «Galatasaray» (Turkey) — «Juventus» (Italy);
- «Borussia» Dortmund (Germany) — «Atalanta» (Italy);
- «Club Brugge» (Belgium) — «Atlético» (Spain);
- «Olympiacos» (Greece) — «Bayer» (Germany).
The first playoff matches will take place on February 17–18, with return matches on February 24–25. The draw for the round of 16 is scheduled for Friday, February 27.
Thus, Ukrainian footballers Trubin, Lunin, Zabarnyi, Yaremchuk, and Kashchuk are already preparing for decisive matches, and their clubs have received tough challenges on their way to the next stage of the tournament.