All four teams Chelsea could face in Champions League round of 16 confirmed
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Chelsea could face one of four teams in the round of 16 of the Champions League after securing a top-eight finish in the league phase.
The Blues beat Napoli 3-2 in a comeback win in Naples on Wednesday and finished sixth in the table.
This means Chelsea avoided the play-offs and automatically qualified for the round of 16, alongside seven other clubs in the top eight.
The teams that finished ninth to 24th in the league phase will have to go through a two-legged play-off tie, and Chelsea could potentially face one of these four clubs: Paris Saint-Germain, Newcastle United, AS Monaco, and Qarabag.
Our potential #UCL opponents are confirmed. ✨ pic.twitter.com/NHZnMD6unz
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 29, 2026
Both PSG and Newcastle are seeded, so they will each face one of Monaco and Qarabag in the play-off, and the winners will be paired with either Chelsea or Barcelona in the round of 16.
The play-off draw takes place at 12:00 CET (11:00 UK time) on Friday, January 30.
The play-off ties take place in February. The first legs are set to be played on February 17 and 18, while the second legs will be played on 24 and 25.
It will be followed by the draw for the round of 16, which takes place on Friday, February 27.
"Yeah, firstly, I think to get through in this competition is the most important thing, so I'm delighted to do it," Liam Rosenior said when asked how important avoiding the play-offs is for Chelsea after the Napoli win.
"In this way, in terms of our season, in terms of my time on the pitch with the players, that's going to help us so much."
Rosenior argued that, having had limited time to work on tactics with the players since his arrival, he could use the less congested February schedule to introduce more of his ideas.
"I'm so proud of them, even in the first half, I'm asking them to press in a completely different way that they've never done before and hardly had any practice at," he explained.
"So that time over the next few weeks will help us get better and improve, but we still need to win games in this moment."
Gerry Crisandy is a freelance writer who has covered Chelsea for many years. His work has been published on The Chelsea Chronicle and Pride of London. He grew up idolising Michael Ballack and is a firm believer in expected goals.