The Champions League play-off draw ceremony will officially begin at 11.00am GMT (UK time) on Friday, January 30, 2026, held at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland.
In the UK, you can watch the draw live on TNT Sports 1. They are the primary broadcaster for the entire competition throughout the 2025/26 season.
Fans can stream live via the discovery+ app or website with a subscription. It will also be available for free on UEFA.com and the official UEFA app.
Seeded Teams: These teams finished ninth–16th and will host the second leg: Real Madrid, Inter Milan, PSG, Newcastle United, Juventus, Atlético Madrid, Atalanta, and Bayer Leverkusen.
Unseeded Teams: These teams finished 17th–24th and will play the first leg at home: Borussia Dortmund, Olympiacos, Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Monaco, Qarabag, Bodo/Glimt, and Benfica.
Eight teams bypass this draw and go straight to the Last 16: Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Tottenham, Barcelona, Chelsea, Sporting CP, and Manchester City.
The draw uses specific pairings: teams 9 or 10 are drawn against 23 or 24; 11 or 12 against 21 or 22; 13 or 14 against 19 or 20; and 15 or 16 against 17 or 18. So 11th-placed Newcastle are paired with 12th-placed PSG, those two teams will face one of Monaco or Qarabag.
This draw also determines the pathway for the rest of the tournament. The top league phase finishers are separated in the bracket to ensure they cannot meet until the later rounds.
The play-off first legs are scheduled for February 17/18, with the decisive second legs taking place a week later on February 24/25.
There is no country protection for this stage, so Newcastle could technically face any of the unseeded teams regardless of their league, if there was another English team in the play-off draw.