Image Credit: @brfootball Twitter
As of January 29th 2026, The UEFA Champions League’s league phase had reached its conclusion after all 36 teams played their 8th and final game last night. This Champions League campaign is a very interesting one considering where a lot of top teams placed this campaign and where some “underdog” teams have placed as well. In case you needed a reminder of the Champions League’s new format that was introduced last season:
- 36 Teams
- Each team plays 8 games, 4 at home and 4 away
- Teams that finish in the Top 8 automatically qualify for the Round of 16 stage
- Teams that finish in places 9th through 24th will qualify to the Knockout Playoff Stage where those teams will face each other to determine the 8 teams that will qualify for the Round of 16 stage
- The rest of the teams in the bottom half are eliminated and will not be demoted to the UEFA Europa League
Elimination Places
As stated previously the teams in these places are now officially out of the UEFA Champions League this season and none of them will be demoted to the UEFA Europa League competition either. The notable names on this list are teams who are top clubs in their respective leagues and are currently in top 4 places in those very same leagues; Villarreal who are 4th in La Liga, Marseille who are 3rd in Ligue 1, PSV who are 1st in the Eredivisie, Napoli who are 4th in Serie A and Ajax who are 3rd in the Eredivisie. What is even stranger is that historically, 3 of the previously named teams have won this very competition in their history. Marseille won in 1993, PSV won in 1988 and Ajax won 4 times in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1995. The rest of the teams in the elimination places are not bad teams by any means since they did manage qualify for this competition in the first place however pedigree wise not many fans are surprised that they have not qualified for the Round of 16 stage.
Knockout Phase Play-Off Places
These 16 teams still have the opportunity to go on to the Round of 16 stage in the Champions League competition. On January 30th there will be a UEFA Champions League knockout phase play-off draw which will determine which teams will face each other in 2 Leg Playoff matches to determine the 8 teams that go on to the Round of 16 stage. This is the biggest placements in the entire league format so there is no surprise that quite a few top clubs are in these positions however being in these places just means extra games for these teams who are aiming to win this competition. For some top clubs it is a little surprising that they are in this position such as the current title holders PSG. Being the current champions and not finishing in the top 8 of the League Phase is quite shocking and as mentioned previously adds another step in the quest to defend their Champions League crown. To be fair to the current champions, they were in a slightly worse position this time last year as they were 15th in the 2024/2025 final standings and as we all know they went on to win the entire competition so league positions does not mean everything. Any of these 16 teams still has a very good chance of winning this competition despite the extra games.
Straight to the Round of 16 Places
These are the 8 teams that do not have to worry about the Play-off Phase, the only thing these teams must look forward to is February 27th when the Round of 16 draw happens and they find out which 1 of the teams that qualified from the Play-off phase will be their opponents. The real surprise names that made to this position are the Europa League Champions Tottenham and the Primeira Liga champions Sporting CP. Fans would have expected teams like Real Madrid and PSG to be in this position however these 2 teams have surpassed many fans’ expectations as well as given themselves a good advantage going into the Round of 16 stage. Manchester City is also quite the surprise addition as they were in the Playoff spots in Matchweek 7 before miraculously winning their final game against Galatasaray which just narrowly secured their spot in the top 8. With Arsenal there are no surprises as they are the only team in the entire competition to win all 8 of their games as well as being the team with the most goals scored and the team with the least number of goals conceded. They seem to be the clear favourites however as this competition as shown, being top in the final standings does not guarantee the prize at the end at the end of the tunnel.
