Manchester City will want to put the misery of 2024–25 quickly behind them and once again compete for major trophies in 2025–26.
Since the turn of the decade, City have become one of the premier contenders in the Champions League. However, Pep Guardiola’s side narrowly made it out of last season’s inaugural league phase, and were then dismantled by Real Madrid in the knockout stage playoffs last term, failing to make it to the round of 16 for the first time since 2012–13.
A torrid campaign saw City finish a season trophyless for the first time since Guardiola’s debut term with the club. Yet, they still comfortably clinched a third place finish in the Premier League to secure Champions League qualification. Now, with a revamped squad for the new season, they’ll look to challenge for everything once again.
With renewed optimism, here’s who City could potentially face in the 2025–26 Champions League league phase.
What 2025–26 Champions League Pot Are Man City In?
The Cityzens will be placed in Pot 1 of the Champions League league phase draw. Despite underperforming a season ago, UEFA takes the results of the most recent five seasons into consideration in their club coefficient ranking—the measure that determines the pots.
As was the case in the inaugural league phase a season ago, each team will play eight total games in the opening round of the competition. Every team will face two opponents from each pot, but City can’t can face another Premier League club, nor two teams from the same country.
This means City will avoid matchups vs. Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United during the league phase, shrinking the amount of their potential opponents.
Man City’s 2025–26 Potential Champions League League Phase Opponents
- *Ferencváros (pot 4) vs. Qarabağ (pot 4), Basel (pot 4) vs. Copenhagen (pot 4), Fenerbahçe (pot 3) vs. Benfica (pot 2) and Rangers (pot 3) vs. Club Brugge (pot 2) will complete their playoff ties on Wednesday, Aug 27.
There’s still seven Champions League spots left up for grabs that will be decided in the playoff finals prior to the league phase draw on Thursday, Aug. 28.
With both Chelsea and Liverpool joining City in Pot 1, there’s only six possible opponents the Cityzens can face from the strongest pot. Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, PSG, Inter Milan are all possible matchups, as is Real Madrid, a team City has faced in each of the past four seasons.
Pot 2 includes Juventus a team that beat City a season ago. However, Guardiola‘s side already got revenge with a 5–2 pummeling at the Club World Cup. Bayer Leverkusen, Atalanta, Villarreal, Eintracht Frankfurt and the always dangerous Atlético Madrid are also potential rivals.
In Pot 3, a matchup against Sporting CP, who destroyed City a season ago in Ruben Amorim’s last home game before joining Man Utd, would be welcomed in an effort to get revenge. But the most appealing possible fixture would be a bout with Napoli and club legend Kevin De Bruyne. PSV Eindhoven, Ajax, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague and Marseille complete the other known opponents from this pot.
The majority of teams still yet to secure their qualification will be seeded in Pot 4, joining Monaco, Galatasaray, Union Saint-Gilloise, Athletic Club, Pafos and Kairat as City’s possible opponents.
Man City’s Toughest Potential 2025–26 Champions League League Phase Opponents
There are no easy opponents in Pot 1. However, facing Real Madrid for a fifth consecutive season in Europe feels inevitable—Los Blancos battered Man City last term and have ended their Champions League dreams in three of the past four seasons.
Guardiola facing boyhood club Barcelona could be just as tough if not tougher. The Catalans have returned to prominence under Hansi Flick and would fancy their chances against City. Same as current holders PSG, who beat City a season ago to ignite their title-run.
Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, two teams Man City dispatched in their 2022–23 title-winning season, would also be difficult tasks. However, City would view them as favourable opponents.
A Kevin De Bruyne reunion could be a potential banana skin. Napoli are the reigning Serie A champions and manager Antonio Conte has the best of his head-to-head record against Guardiola, winning four out of the seven games they’ve contested.
Elsewhere, the aforementioned Sporting CP and Juventus beat the Cityzens a season ago, and although a home game would be an entirely different proposition, avoiding them would be preferable.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as 2025–26 Champions League Draw: Man City’s Potential League Phase Opponents.