Champions League: Possible Clubs Chelsea, Arsenal Could Face Next Season
- Chelsea finished their season on a high by winning the Conference League in Wroclaw, Poland, on May 28
- The Blues have now ended the season with silverware and a ticket back to next season's Champions League
- TUKO.co.ke looks at the possible clubs they and their London rivals, Arsenal, could face in the league phase next season
Chelsea wrapped up their 2024/2025 season with a dominant 4-1 win over Real Betis in the Conference League final.
Source: Getty Images
After a lacklustre first half from the Londoners, the Blues returned after the break to recover from Abde Ezzalzouli's early strike.
Cole Palmer's masterclass in Wroclaw
A brace of Cole Palmer's assists turned in by Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson helped Chelsea to overturn the game before further goals from Jadon Sancho and Moises Caicedo put the tie to bed.
Search option is now available at TUKO! Feel free to search the content on topics/people you enjoy reading about in the top right corner ;)
It was the second perfect result for Chelsea in under four days as they had recently also booked their ticket to next season's Champions League. Enzo Maresca's side were one of the three teams that finished in the top five on the last day of the Premier League season.
They beat Nottingham Forest to finish fourth and secure a return to the Champions League alongside Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Newcastle United. Tottenham will also compete in the best club competition thanks to their Europa League final win over Manchester United.
Why Chelsea will be ranked higher than Arsenal in the Champions League
Chelsea haven't kicked a ball in the Champions League since 2023 and their players and fans alike will be eager for the return of the competition.
As TUKO.co.ke previously explained, Chelsea will slot directly into Pot 1 alongside the best on the continent, like record winners Real Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, this year's finalists Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain, among others.
Arsenal will be in Pot 2 as nine other teams have better coefficients.
Clubs Chelsea, Arsenal could face in the Champions League
In the revamped Champions League format, the 36 teams will be seeded into four pots of nine teams each. However, unlike in the previous format, where a team couldn't face a team from the same pot, the new system is a little bit different.
In the new format, a team will play a total of eight league phase matches (previously known as group stage matches). More importantly, the eight games are against different teams, meaning there is no home and away format.
How new Champions League system works
A team is drawn against two teams each from a particular pot, but cannot be given an opponent from the same division. What this means is, Chelsea cannot play either Manchester City or Liverpool, but can be paired with any of the remaining five teams in Pot 1.
Therefore, Chelsea will play one of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Paris Saint-Germain or Barcelona in the league phase.
Eight teams have already been confirmed for Pot 2, save for Benfica, who could drop out should they fail to win their play-off games. Tottenham will move to Pot 2 if the Portuguese side drops out.
Pot 3 and Pot 4 are also yet to be decided fully, pending the outcome of the play-off games. Nonetheless, to get an idea of who Chelsea or Arsenal or any other team will play, just look at the pots, eliminate the team that comes from the same division. Afterwards, the team you are looking for will get two of the remaining teams.
Source: Getty Images
Tentative Champions League Pots 2025/2026
Pot 1: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, PSG, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona.
Pot 2: Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus, Eintracht Frankfurt, Benfica, Club Brugge, Rangers, Shakhtar Donetsk.
Pot 3: Tottenham, PSV, Ajax, Napoli, Sporting CP, Olympiacos, Slavia Praha, Bodø/Glimt, Marseille
Pot 4: FC Copenhagen, Crvena Zvezda, AS Monaco, Ferencváros, Galatasaray, Celtic, Union SG, Athletic Club, Newcastle
(Only Pot 1 is confirmed, the rest are subject to change depending on how qualifiers go.)
Why Chelsea could snub Champions League
In a highly unlikely turn of events, Chelsea have the opportunity to turn down the Champions League despite qualifying for it.
The Stamford Bridge tenants are faced with a rather bizarre occurrence where they will be given an opportunity to choose which competition they want to play in.
Winning the Conference League secured them a direct ticket to the Europa League, but they had already qualified for the Champions League.
Proofreading by Jackson Otukho, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
