The Spanish club Barcelona is preparing to kick off its journey in the 2025/2026 UEFA Champions League on Thursday, September 18, with a strong match against Newcastle United at St. James' Park. The Catalan team is the last representative of Spain in the opening round of the tournament.

Typically, UEFA Champions League matches are played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but since last season, UEFA has decided to spread the opening round matches over three days, in line with the new format of the tournament that replaced the traditional group stage with a unified league phase involving 36 teams.

The top 8 teams qualify directly for the Round of 16, while teams ranked from 9th to 24th compete for the remaining spots in the playoff.

This change aims to give the first matches greater significance and reduce pressure on the match schedule, as the number of daily matches has been reduced from 9 to 6, with the additional day allocated for the Europa League and the Conference League, which will start next week.