The league stage of the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League gets underway today, Sept. 16.
The annual European premier club football tournament will pit 36 of the best club teams on the continent against each other, allowing fans even more opportunities to see their favorite club in action against other top-tier teams.
In May 2025, Paris Saint-Germain defeated Inter Milan 5-0 to win its first European Cup title. Both teams are back this year, alongside other past winners Real Madrid, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona.
Though the action will be set across Europe, there’s an easy way for football fans in the United States to catch every match with just one streaming subscription.
How to watch and stream UEFA Champions League in the USA:
The streaming home of the UEFA Champions League in the United States is Paramount+, so every match of every single matchday from today through the May 30, 2026 final, will be streaming there.
Paramount+ starts at $7.99/month for ad-supported streaming, but you can get an ad-free Premium plan for $12.99/month. Both plans include a one-week free trial for new subscribers.
Right now, Paramount+ is also running a deal with some of the lowest prices of the year when you subscribe to an annual plan. Annual plans with ads currently costs $29.99, while the ad-free one is $59.99 — that’s 50% off for an entire year of streaming!
UEFA Champions League Matchday 1 schedule:
Over the next three days, there will be six matches per day; two begin at 12:45 p.m. ET, while the other four kick off at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Tuesday, September 16
- PSV vs. Union SG – 12:45 p.m.
- Athletic Club vs. Arsenal – 12:45 p.m.
- Real Madrid vs. Marseille – 3 p.m.
- Benfica vs. Qarabag – 3 p.m.
- Juventus vs. Borussia Dortmund – 3 p.m.
- Tottenham Hotspur vs. Villarreal – 3 p.m.
Wednesday, September 17
- Olympiacos vs. Pafos – 12:45 p.m.
- Slava Prague vs. Bodø/Glimt – 12:45 p.m.
- PSG vs. Atalanta – 3 p.m.
- Bayern Munchen vs. Chelsea – 3 p.m.
- Liverpool vs. Atletico Madrid – 3 p.m.
- Ajax vs. Inter Milan – 3 p.m.
Thursday, September 18
- Club Brugge vs. Monaco – 12:45 p.m.
- Copenhage vs. Leverkusen – 12:45 p.m.
- Manchester City vs. Napoli – 3 p.m.
- Frankfurt vs. Galatasaray – 3 p.m.
- Sporting CP vs. Kairat – 3 p.m.
- Newcastle vs. Barcelona – 3 p.m.
When is the next Champions League matchday?
Matchday two of eight is on Tuesday, Sept. 30 and Wednesday, Oct. 1.
2025 UEFA Champions League teams:
- Ajax (Netherlands)
- Arsenal (England)
- Atalanta (Italy)
- Athletic Bilbao (Spain)
- Atlético Madrid (Spain)
- Barcelona (Spain)
- Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)
- Bayern Munchen (Germany)
- Benfica (Portugal)
- Bodø/Glimt (Norway)
- Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
- Chelsea (England)
- Club Brugge (Belgium)
- Copenhagen (Denmark)
- Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany)
- Galatasaray (Turkey)
- Inter Milan (Italy)
- Juventus (Italy)
- Kairat (Kazakhstan)
- Liverpool (England)
- Manchester City (England)
- Marseille (France)
- Monaco (Monaco – French Ligue 1)
- Napoli (Italy)
- Newcastle United (England)
- Olympiacos (Greece)
- Pafos (Cyprus)
- Paris Saint-Germain (France)
- PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
- Qarabag (Azerbaijan)
- Real Madrid (Spain)
- Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
- Sporting CP (Portugal)
- Tottenham Hotspur (England)
- Union Saint-Gilloise (Belgium)
- Villareal (Spain)
UEFA Champions League format explained:
2025-26 is the second year UCL will use a “Swiss” system that, among other changes, replaces the group stage with a league phase.
Previous UCL tournaments began with a group stage where 32 teams were divided into eight groups of four, similar to the group stage used during this summer’s Euro. From there, each team would play each opponent in their group twice — home and away — before advancing to a knockout stage.
In this new format of play, the league phase has expanded into 36 teams, and rather than seeding and organizing the teams into groups, each team will play eight different teams, half at home and half away. The teams are organized into a single league competition with all 36 teams ranked together.
The scoring hasn’t changed, though; winners will get three points while clubs that finish in a draw get one point each.
This is, in part, to give clubs and opportunity to test themselves against a wider range of opponents. It also provides fans more opportunities to see top teams go head-to-head more often and earlier in the tournament.
From there, the top eight clubs across the board will automatically move into the Round of 16, while the teams that finish 9th through 24th will compete in a knock-out style playoff to qualify.
Beyond the UCL, this new format will also be used in Europa League and UEFA Conference League matches.
Why Trust Post Wanted by the New York Post
This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Streaming Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping, Page Six, and New York Post’s streaming property, Decider. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she’s also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. Prior to joining Decider and The New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews
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