FC Barcelona loved a particularly profitable home marketing campaign, successful three tales, however got here up agonisingly brief within the UEFA Champions League – .
Hansi Flick & co., as such, are aiming to go a few steps additional within the upcoming season and raise the European Cup, ending Barça’s ten-year drought within the competitors.
Two groups from the Premier League
In accordance with , Barcelona are set to face two Premier League groups within the league section of the 2025/26 Champions League.
Commercial
This final result is the results of the event’s revised format and the excessive variety of English golf equipment within the competitors.
Certainly, England can have six representatives subsequent season – Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester Metropolis, Chelsea, Newcastle United, and Tottenham Hotspur (Europa League winners).
UEFA rules state that golf equipment from the identical affiliation can’t be drawn in opposition to one another within the group stage and that every workforce might face a most of two opponents from anyone nation.
Barcelona’s high goal for subsequent season. (Picture by Valery HACHE / AFP) (c)
To adjust to these restrictions, every of the six non-English groups in Pot 1 – together with Barcelona – have to be paired with two English golf equipment.
Commercial
This creates a more difficult path for the La Liga champions. As an alternative of being drawn in opposition to lower-ranked golf equipment from Pots 2, 3, or 4, they might be drawn in opposition to sides equivalent to Arsenal from Pot 2, or Tottenham and Newcastle from Pots 3 and 4.
This limits the probabilities of drawing much less aggressive groups like Ferencváros, Slavia Prague, or Pink Star Belgrade.
These constraints don’t have an effect on the English golf equipment in the identical means. They’re assured to keep away from each other and can every be matched with two Pot 1 groups.
Because of this, it’s the non-English Pot 1 groups like Barcelona that face more durable fixtures because of the restricted draw choices.
In final season’s group stage, Barcelona didn’t face any Premier League golf equipment. That won’t be the case this time. The draw for the 2025/26 UCL league section will happen on August 28.