Champions League final group stage showdown: what every team is playing for

The final matchday of the group stage in Europe’s top competition promises to be dramatic, with 18 games kicking off simultaneously on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, at 8:00 PM.

Only two teams have already secured a place in the round of 16: Arsenal and Bayern Munich. At the other end of the table, just four clubs are mathematically eliminated: Eintracht Frankfurt, Kairat Almaty, Slavia Prague and Villarreal. This means that 30 of the 36 teams still have something to play for on the final day.

Real Madrid, Liverpool and Tottenham are in a strong position to finish inside the top eight. One of the decisive clashes in that race will be PSG vs Newcastle at the Parc des Princes, with both teams level on 13 points. They are joined on the same total by Chelsea, Barcelona, Sporting CP, Manchester City, Atlético Madrid and Atalanta, all separated only by goal difference and forced to fight until the very end for a top-eight finish.

A second group of teams have already guaranteed a spot in the top 24 and are now focused on securing a top-16 position, which would allow them to play the second leg of the playoff tie at home. This is the case for Inter Milan and Juventus, while Borussia Dortmund, Galatasaray and Qarabag have around a 99% chance of reaching the playoffs.

Finally, there is a highly competitive pack of 14 teams within just three points of each other, battling for the last six playoff places. The best positioned in that group are Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco with nine points, while Bodø/Glimt, Benfica, Pafos, Union Saint-Gilloise and Ajax sit on six points and must win and rely on other results to progress.

In every scenario, each point and every goal could prove decisive in shaping the outcome of this Champions League group stage. The standings are extremely tight across the board, and even the smallest detail could make the difference.