Looking ahead to Spurs’ Champions League Campaign

The 2025/26 Champions League draw took place on August 28th, and Spurs now know the eight teams across Europe that they will face in the league phase of the competition. 

There is an equal split of four home fixtures and four away games – each team bringing their own unique challenge to Spurs’s push for knockout stage qualification. 

So how will Spurs match up against the European elite? We’ll explore predictions for the competition, each opponent in detail, and a brief rundown on the new Champions League format, as it is the first time Spurs will be playing in the tournament since it has been updated.

Champions League 2025-26 Format Explained

In the Champions League, 36 teams are initially placed into one huge table, each team playing eight clubs that are randomly drawn. If you want to know the odds of each team’s chances to qualify for the next round, then the Champions League betting markets will let you know all the favourites, as well as the underdogs (Liverpool and Barcelona are currently favourites for the trophy at 11/2). Though, there’s no doubt that the online football odds will continue to change throughout the stages.

But how do you qualify for the next stage? Well, the points you accumulate in these eight games will determine your final league position. Finishing in the top eight of the league grants automatic qualification to the knockouts, while finishing 9-24 means you’ll enter a play-off to join the top eight in the round of 16. 

Make sure you’re all caught up on the new format before we take a look at all the teams that the Lilywhite will face in the league stages.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League Opponents 

The teams Spurs will play in the first round are: Borussia Dortmund (GER), Villarreal (SPA), Slavia Prague (CZE), Copenhagen (DEN), Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Eintracht Frankfurt (GER), Bodo/Glimt (NOR) and Monaco (FRA). You can learn more about the Tottenham Hotspur opponents, but let’s take an in-depth look at a couple of standout matches. 

PSG (a) – 26th November 

After Spurs’ narrow Loss to PSG during the Super Cup, the opportunity has arisen to take revenge on the current holders of the Champions League during the league stages. Thomas Franks’ first game for Spurs saw the Lilywhites 2-0 up against PSG back in August, before an injury-time equaliser and penalty disappointment led to the Ligue 1 side taking home the cup. 

This upcoming game will be the fifth match of the group stage, and will mean a journey to Parc des Princes to take on Luis Enrique’s talented young squad. Top quality attackers Ousmane Dembele and Désiré Doué will make this a difficult contest, but they have also just lost one of the best goalkeepers in the world, Gianluigi Donnarumma, to Man City. 

Dortmund (h) – 20th January

The second most successful team in Germany, Borussia Dortmund, have signed Jobe Bellingham from Sunderland and Fabio Silva from Wolves this transfer window to add to an already impressive squad. The last time Spurs played Dortmund was back in 2016, a disappointing Europa League round of 16 loss, but both squads are now pretty much unrecognisable from then. 

Spurs will have the home advantage in this contest, and it will be the penultimate game of the group stages, which could potentially mean there’s a lot riding on it. 

How Will Spurs Do in the Champions League?

Whatever happens, returning to Europe’s biggest footballing stage is something everyone is excited about – no matter how untraditional the method of qualifying and Thomas Franks’ side will be sure to turn up to every game eager to win.