Spanish newspaper: Real Madrid receives nightmare in Champions League

Real Madrid will have a long-distance trip to face Kazakhstani side Kairat near the Chinese border, following the Champions League draw on August 29.

Champions League increases prize money to 2.6 billion USD (about 68,574 billion VND)

The draw for the 2025-2026 Champions League season took place in Monaco, with top Spanish clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona facing tough fixtures against strong opponents.

Real Madrid will have the furthest away trip in the Champions League

Photo: Reuters

Real Madrid will have the longest and furthest away match in the Champions League when they meet Kairat in Kazakhstan, near the Chinese border. "This is a journey of more than 6,000 km full of challenges and risks for coach Xabi Alonso and his team," said Spanish newspaper AS .

Real Madrid will play a total of eight matches in the Champions League league phase, including home matches against Man City, Juventus, Marseille and Monaco, while away matches against Liverpool, Benfica, Olympiacos and especially Kairat. The specific schedule of these matches will be announced by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) before August 30.

Meanwhile, Barcelona face PSG, Eintracht Frankfurt, Olympiacos, Copenhagen at home, while facing Chelsea, Club Brugge, Slavia Prague and Newcastle away.

Strong clubs in the Premier League such as Man City also have a tough schedule. "Man City" will face Dortmund, Leverkusen, Napoli and Galatasaray at home, while facing Real Madrid, Villarreal, Bodo/Glimt and Monaco away.

Liverpool face Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, PSV and Qarabag at home, while they face Inter Milan, Eintracht Frankfurt, Marseille and Galatasaray away. Chelsea face Barcelona, ​​Benfica, Ajax, Pafos FC (Cyprus) at home, and Bayern Munich, Atalanta, Napoli and Qarabag away.

After the 2025-2026 Champions League season ends with 8 rounds, the top 8 teams will go straight to the round of 16. The 16 teams ranked from 9th to 24th will have to play a play-off round to compete for the remaining 8 spots, while the teams ranked from 25th to 36th will be eliminated.

From the knockout round, the home-away format will be maintained until the semi-finals. The 2025-2026 Champions League final will take place at Puskas Stadium in Budapest, Hungary. Notably, the kick-off time for this season's Champions League final will be 11 p.m. on May 30, 2026, instead of 2 a.m. the next day as before (Vietnam time).

UEFA plans to hand out around $2.6 billion to clubs that qualify from the group stage. The Champions League winners could receive more than $116 million if they win all their games. Reaching the final alone will bring in at least $21.5 million, with the trophy-winning team pocketing another $7.6 million.

The prize money in the Champions League is calculated according to many categories, including: participation fee, bonus based on the results of each match, bonus based on group stage ranking, bonus for the knockout round and television market value. This helps the Champions League continue to be the tournament with the highest prize fund at the club level worldwide , surpassing even FIFA's Club World Cup.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bao-tay-ban-nha-real-madrid-nhan-con-ac-mong-tai-champions-league-185250829085609261.htm