STAR FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Champions League 2025/26

Europe’s greatest club competition is back, with the relatively new look Champions League having a wide open look to it, writes WILLIAM KEDJANYI.

Last season’s new format was a success in the eyes of many, with games mattering much more as bigger clubs battled to make it into the top eight, the likes of Real Madrid, PSG and Manchester City scrapping it out to make it through to the knockouts, and smaller clubs scrapping for generous prize money.

Recent editions have been dominated by the Superclubs of Europe and whilst that trend looks set to continue, the betting for this year’s title is as competitive as ever, with eight clubs priced between 11/2 and 12/1 at the time of writing with starsports.bet.

Before we assess the claims of Europe’s biggest clubs to glory, here’s a refresher on how the new look format works.

---

How does the format work? 🤔

This is the second season of the expanded Champions League. 36 teams will take part in a new league phase, giving four more clubs a chance to compete. All 36 teams will be ranked together in one big league. In this format, each team will play eight matches against eight different teams, instead of playing the same teams twice. Half of the matches will be at home, and the other half away.

The top eight teams will move straight to the round of 16. According to starsports.bet prices they are Barcelona (2/5), Liverpool (4/9), Arsenal (1/2), Paris Saint-Germain (1/2), Real Madrid (4/6), Manchester City (8/11), Bayern Munich (4/5), and Chelsea (evens).

Teams finishing in 9th to 24th place will play in a two-legged play-off to decide who joins them in the last 16. Teams finishing 25th or lower will be out of the competition, with no chance to join the UEFA Europa League. For the play-offs, teams finishing 9th to 16th will be seeded and play against teams finishing 17th to 24th, with the second match played at home. The winners of these play-offs will join the top eight in the round of 16.

However, the lower you finish the harder your draw is likely to be in the knockouts, as the path to the final is set out according to rankings, much like a tennis or snooker competition.

---

🏆 Overall Winner:

The betting for this year’s Champions League is wide open, but any club will do well to take the prize of Paris Saint-Germain, who have strong claims of retaining their title. Paris Saint-Germain had to scramble to finish 15th in the League Phase but never looked back after January, improving to become the best side in Europe, and eliminating Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal on their way to the final, where they thumped Inter 5-0 in style.

PSG have lost Gianluigi Donnarumma to Manchester City, with replacement Lucas Chevalier having massive gloves to fill, but the rest of the squad is largely unchanged from last season. Often, some would worry about stagnation, but Luis Enrique has built one of the youngest and most vibrant units in Europe, with extraordinary attacking depth in the shape of Ousmane Dembele, Kvicha Kvaratshkelia, Desire Doue and Bradley Barcola, whilst the midfield unit of Joao Neves, Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz is one of the most technically advanced in the competition.

Marauding full-backs Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes are world-class talents and the addition of Bournemouth centre-back Illia Zabarnyi can’t hurt in defence. A tricky league phase is a slight worry, but PSG should be able to hit top gear earlier this season if needs be and their big game record speaks for itself.

PSG managed to overcome a late scramble to make the knockouts last season and will be able to rotate their squad to their liking given their dominance in France, something that played a key role in last season’s knockout stages, and 6/1 about their chances looks more than fair.

Liverpool were knocked out by PSG on penalties last season – little reward for topping the League Phase in style – when they were flattered to get so close. An incredible transfer window has given them marvellous attacking depth with Arne Slot having Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak upfront, joining the in-form Cody Gakpo, and Mohamed Salah.

Liverpool have a powerhouse attack and midfield – even if Florian Wirtz is taking his time to find his form since arriving – but they will need Virgil Van Dijk to stay fit during the latter stages and have shown vulnerability so far in their Premier League games that could be exploited in the knockouts.

Arsenal are well fancied in every ante-post market and have to be respected after a strong transfer window that has seen them add Viktor Gyokeres and Eberechi Eze in the forward ranks. They were superb against Real Madrid in the quarters last season and gave PSG a very good game in the semis, although the worry for those backing Arteta’s side is, in an attacking sense, can Gyokeres and Eze improve them going forward enough to get past elite defences?

Barcelona and Real Madrid have to be highly rated. Barcelona were knocked out in a crazy semi-final against Inter last season, when they were possibly unlucky over the two legs and are stacked with talent going forward thanks to a young core of players that should still be improving.

Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, Gavi, Pedri, Frenkie De Jong, and Dani Olmo can go toe to toe with anyone, whilst a return to the Camp Nou should also boost them. The worry is their defence – they were missing both full-backs against Inter last year but found themselves on the wrong side of a shootout.

Real Madrid couldn’t break Arsenal down last season but are likely to be a better structured side under Xabi Alonso, who has fresh blood in the shape of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dean Huijsen, Alvaro Carreras and Argentine playmaker Franco Mastantuono to join his star-studded forward lineup.

If he’s able to bring the same organisation and quality he imparted onto Bayer Leverkusen then Madrid will be a force to be reckoned with, but that improvement is needed and they can be reassessed after the league phase.

Manchester City are capable of retaking their crown at their best, but early season signs suggest there are still problems to be worked out with regards to their balance and setup going forward, and they are worth assessing at a later date.

Bayern Munich are likely to be tempting at 12/1, and they pushed last year’s runners-up Inter close in the quarters. A tough group phase could put them into the early play-offs, but they have started the season very well domestically and have tons of firepower, led by Harry Kane. There’s possibly not that much potential for their price to shorten, however, given the tough early draw. It will also be interesting to see how Vincent Kompany copes with top head-to-heads.

Chelsea impressed when taking the Club World Cup in fine style, beating a below-par PSG in the final. Enzo Maresca has top-quality players at his disposal, although this is still a notable step up for a side that was fourth behind Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City last season, whilst winning the Conference League with a second string side.

Tottenham salvaged their season with Europa League glory and instantly look improved under Thomas Frank, so have to be respected although again this is another level up despite a good transfer window. Their depth is likely to be tested here and they are best left for now, whilst Newcastle are capable of going head to head with Europe’s best and have coped well with the departure of Isak, although their squad depth is hampered by spending restrictions and they didn’t cope well with the rigours of the old competition the last time they were in Europe.
.

---

🇪🇺 2025-26 UEFA Champions League

Final: Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary
Group Stages: 16th September 2025 – 28th January 2026
Knockout phase play-offs: 17/18 & 24/25 February 2026
Round of 16: 10/11 & 17/18 March 2026
Quarter-finals: 7/8 & 14/15 April 2026
Semi-finals: 28/29 April & 5/6 May 2026
Final: 30 May 2026 (Budapest)

---

🏆 Past Winners:

2024-25: PSG
2023-24: Real Madrid
2022-23: Manchester City
2021-22: Real Madrid
2020-21: Chelsea
2019-20: Bayern Munich
2018-19: Liverpool
2017-18: Real Madrid
2016-17: Real Madrid
2015-16: Real Madrid

---

🏆 Past Golden Boot Winners:

2024-25: Serhou Guirassy & Raphinha (13 goals each)
2023-24: Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane (8 goals each)
2022-23: Erling Haaland (12 goals)
2021-22: Karim Benzema (15 goals)
2020-21: Erling Haaland (10 goals)
2019-20: Robert Lewandowski (15 goals)
2018-19: Lionel Messi (12 goals)
2017-18: Cristiano Ronaldo (15 goals)
2016-17: Cristiano Ronaldo (12 goals)
2015-16: Cristiano Ronaldo (16 goals)

---

📊 League Phase:

With so many caveats to the outright winner – and only two places to add to all that – the group league phase is very interesting, and a couple of sides make strong appeal with three places and ¼ the odds-on offer from starsports.bet for both the league phase winner and the highest scoring team.

Barcelona look rightful favourites to top the league phase and also to be the highest scoring team in that area. A tough start away at Newcastle before hosting PSG balances out on paper with Olympiakos (home), Club Brugge (away), Frankfurt (home), Slavia Prague (away) and Copenhagen (home). Barcelona do have to visit Chelsea in November, but early evidence suggests that the Blues, who were held to a draw at Brentford on Saturday, can be got at defensively and Barcelona have scored three or more goals in three of their four games this year. Back them for both outright league phase glory and also to top the scoring charts.

Bayern Munich have a tough set of fixtures on paper, but there are opportunities for them to rack up a big total and they are interesting in the highest scorer betting. Games against Pafos (away), Club Brugge (home), Sporting Lisbon (home), and Union Saint-Gilloise (away) could all be lucrative and their first night opponents Chelsea have been got at already this season by weaker teams.

---

⚽️ Golden Boot:

The cream rose to the top last season with the extended league phase and the playoffs to boot and we can expect many of the same faces to be at the top of the leaderboard this time around.

Harry Kane scored 11 goals for Bayern Munich in the last campaign, having shared the award with Kylian Mbappe the season before, and has hit the ground running with six goals in six outings. Bayern do have a couple of tricky away games in the league phase (PSG and Arsenal) but they’ll be favourites for their other six fixtures and according to outright betting Kane will get plenty of chances to add to his remarkable tally of Bayern goals.

Borussia Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy was the joint winner of the award last season along with Raphinha, and he looks far too big if the yellow army are able to make it to the playoffs at least, which the betting suggests they should. He was joint top scorer at the Club World Cup, scored 21 in the Bundesliga last season, and has four goals already this season in three games to begin with. Dortmund’s fixtures are competitive but the attack minded teams they play ( Man City, Villarreal, Bodo/Glimt, Tottenham, and Copenhagen) should help and he’s worth taking a chance on at the prices.

Liverpool have tremendous firepower but their goals could be shared around and there’s the possibility of that happening at Barcelona, for all that Lamine Yamal & Raphinha are tempting choices.

Kylian Mbappe managed seven goals last season in a Madrid side that was very much squeezed out by Arsenal at the quarter-final stage and with Xabi Alonso likely to have them in better structural shape this time around, he catches the eye in a big way at 7/1. Mbappe already has four goals for Madrid in La Liga and took the winning penalty when Madrid beat Osasuna to boot.

Major threats include Erling Haaland, who is already on fire domestically and who’s sure to fill his boots in the group stages, and PSG’s Osumane Dembele, who might well be the lead man here. Cole Palmer did catch the eye for Chelsea also at 25/1 although he and Joao Pedro might share goals. Viktor Gyokeres has been recommended by some good judges but Arsenal may not create as many chances as other sides and have a couple of tough fixtures to boot during the league phase.

---

RECOMMENDED BETS

🏆 Outright Winner:
BACK PSG – Outright Winner 2 pts each/way at 6/1 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)

📊 League Phase:
BACK Barcelona – League Phase Winner 3pts each/way at 9/2 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
BACK Barcelona Highest Scoring Team In The League Stage 2 pts at 9/2 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
BACK Bayern Munich Highest Scoring Team In The League Stage 1 pt each/way at 8/1 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)

⚽️ Top Goalscorer:
BACK Kylian Mbappe – Top Goalscorer 2 pts each/way at 7/1 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
BACK Harry Kane – Top Goalscorer 2pts each/way at 10/1 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
BACK Serhou Guirassy – Top Goalscorer 1 pt each/way at 40/1 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)

---

PROFIT/LOSS (SEPT 2025): PROFIT: -3.71 points

---

STAR PROMOTIONS