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A Champions League rule change next season is set to affect clubs in the competition, especially Arsenal and Liverpool if they qualify. The Champions League's new format has divided fans since its launch at the start of last season, with critics complaining about too many games while its advocates argue in favour of 'increased jeopardy'.

Yet, governing body UEFA have already decided to make changes to Europe's elite club competition. Starting from the 2026/27 campaign, the initial league phase draw will not permit any fixture between the same two teams to be repeated across three consecutive seasons. However, this will only count when the same team is at home for the fixture. For example, Liverpool vs Real Madrid at Anfield and Inter Milan vs Arsenal at San Siro will not be allowed for a third time by UEFA's software conducting the group phase draw.

Liverpool beat Real Madrid 2-0 in 2024 and 1-0 in 2025 at Anfield, while the Gunners lost the fixture at Inter 1-0 in 2024 and claimed a 3-1 victory earlier this month. The shake-up, which means they can only face each other in reverse fixtures, was announced ahead of the draw for the league phase at the start of this season.

This season, drawn from 27 teams that qualified via league positions, were the winners of last season's Champions League and Europa League, and the seven teams that progressed out of qualifying. The teams were then split into four pots based on their individual UEFA coefficient ranking.

Each team would play eight games in total, including two teams from each pot - one home and one away. No group stage fixture could be played against teams from the same country or more than two matches against teams from another country.

Both Arsenal and Liverpool could realistically qualify for the Champions League next season. The Gunners, heading into the final league phase matchday, which concludes tonight with all 18 fixtures kicking off at the same time, currently lead the table with seven wins in seven matches.

Liverpool are fourth on 15 points while Thomas Frank's Tottenham are one point behind in fifth. Showcasing the English teams' dominance in this phase of the competition, Newcastle United and Chelsea are seventh and eighth respectively, though they too are in danger of dropping out of the automatic qualification places.

The winners of the 2023 edition, Manchester City, are currently 11th in the 36-place league phase. They will need a win against Galatasaray on Wednesday evening if they are to have any hope of avoiding the two-legged playoffs next month.