Champions League race heats up

The 2025/26 UEFA Champions League campaign has produced scintillating football from Europe's biggest and best teams, and as the league phase enters the final three rounds of games, we're starting to see how the final standings may look before we enter the knockout round.

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The new format differs massively from the previous group stage format, as every team is placed in one big league table featuring 36 teams and plays eight games – four at home and four away – as opposed to facing three teams twice in their group. The new format, with the introduction of the playoffs, means teams now stand a greater chance of extending their European campaigns despite a poor run in the league phase, as was evidenced by Paris Saint-Germain's (PSG) victory last season. As the league phase draws to a close, Soccer Laduma's Matthew Petersen looks at the early season favourites, some of the tournament's surprise packages, and who could be among the teams to dethrone the French side come May 2026.

Early Favourites

After five games played, Arsenal became the first team to be assured of a playoff spot at the very least this season but require two more wins to advance directly to the Round of 16. The Gunners are the only team to go unbeaten so far, with five wins out of five games played, including a 4-0 win over Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in Matchweek (MW) 3 and a stunning 3-1 victory over Bayern Munich in MW 5.

Mikel Arteta's success this season has been built on a strong backline marshalled by David Raya, Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba. The Gunners have conceded just once in the competition – against Bayern and the Spaniard has built a stable and deep squad with smart signings. Arsenal will finish their campaign with games against Pafos FC, Inter Milan and FC Kairat, and Mikel Arteta will be looking to finish the league phase unbeaten to make a serious statement to the chasers.

Bayern Munich are still in contention to make the Round of 16 automatically and lead a chasing pack that includes Inter Milan, Real Madrid and defending champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). These four sides have each lost just once in the competition so far and will likely be among the Top Eight teams to go straight to the Round of 16.