2025-26 Champions League Round of 16: Dates, Format, Teams

The fight for the European crown continues in the Champions League round of 16, where the recently qualified playoff teams will clash with the top eight clubs of the league phase.

As exciting as the newly expanded league phase is, the thrill of Champions League football only truly begins in the knockout stage. The playoffs gave fans a taste of the drama as reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid fought their way into the last 16, while Inter and Borussia Dortmund crashed out of the competition.

Now the likes of Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Barcelona await in the next round, promising some mouthwatering matchups on the way to the quarterfinals. Only eight teams will survive the round of 16 and keep their Champions League hopes alive.

Here’s everything you need to know about the next round of Europe’s premier club competition.

2025–26 Champions League Round of 16: Dates

The Champions League round of 16 is set to kick off during the second week of March. The second legs will then unfold one week later, just before club action takes a break for the first international window of the year.

Here’s when the next round of the competition will take place:

First Leg: Tuesday, Mar. 10 and Wednesday, Mar. 11

Second Leg: Tuesday, Mar. 17 and Wednesday, Mar. 18

The full schedule will be revealed in the coming days, after the round of 16 draw unfolds on Friday, Feb. 27.

2025–26 Champions League Round of 16: Format

The rules for the round of 16—and the Champions League knockout stage as a whole—have scarcely changed despite the competition’s expanded format introduced last season.

Qualified teams will play a two-legged tie, where the club with the highest aggregate score come the end of the second leg will advance to the quarterfinals. If the score is level, then extra time and potentially a penalty shootout will determine the team moving on to the next round.

The old away goal rule once again no longer applies. Yellow card suspensions are still in play, though, which means players who receive their third booking of the tournament will earn a one-game ban.

The only semi-new tweak to the format comes through the competition’s seeding. Like last season, the top eight teams from the league phase are seeded for the round of 16, and therefore get the advantage of playing the second leg at home.

2025–26 Champions League Round of 16: Teams

Following the conclusion of the knockout phase playoffs, the stage is set for the Champions League knockout stage to truly begin. Out of the original 36 teams that competed in the league phase, only 16 remain in the competition.

Take a look at the clubs still alive in the first for the most prestigious trophy in club football:

Arsenal

Bayern Munich

Liverpool

Tottenham Hotspur

Barcelona

Chelsea

Sporting CP

Manchester City

Atlético Madrid

Bayer Leverkusen

Bodø/Glimt

Newcastle United

Atalanta

Real Madrid

Paris Saint-Germain

Galatasaray

The teams will find out their matchups for the round of 16 once the Champions League draw unfolds on Friday, Feb. 27.

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