Every Champions League produces a handful of stories that outlast the result itself. The 2025-26 edition produced more than most: a final decided by a shootout in Budapest, an unbeaten league phase, a record scoring season, and four clubs playing their first league phase. These are the campaigns that defined the year.
Arsenal’s Unbeaten League Phase
Arsenal’s league phase record was the statistical headline of the season: 8 wins, 0 draws, 0 defeats, 24 points, 23 goals scored, 4 conceded, +19. They finished first, entered the round of 16 directly and reached the final. Only three sides in the top eight matched their attacking output, and none matched their defensive record across eight fixtures.
Mbappé’s Record Scoring Season
Kylian Mbappé finished as the competition’s leading scorer with 15 goals, four clear of second place, in a season that ended with PSG retaining the trophy. His total was accumulated across the league phase and every knockout round, a schedule that rewarded players able to play eight league matches and up to five knockout ties at a high level.
Bodø/Glimt Make Norwegian History
Bodø/Glimt became the first Norwegian club to reach the knockout phase of the competition. Their European winter campaign, played in front of a travelling support, ended the argument that Norwegian clubs could not survive the expanded league phase schedule. They were one of four debutants in the league phase.
Kairat Almaty’s Longest Journey
Kairat Almaty travelled roughly four thousand kilometres for every home fixture of the league phase, the longest regular-season journey in the field. Playing eight league phase matches in four different countries on a midwinter calendar produced travel demands that no Kazakhstan club had faced before in the competition.
Pafos and Union Saint-Gilloise: The Newcomers
Pafos gave Cyprus its first league phase appearance and Union Saint-Gilloise extended a run of Belgian representation built on the country’s strongest domestic clubs. Both used qualifying rounds and early league phase fixtures to confirm that the expanded field rewards sides with coherent domestic form rather than a long-established European pedigree.
Galatasaray’s Turkish Campaign
Galatasaray were the sole Turkish representative, arriving as the strongest side of the Süper Lig and one of the clubs built to compete in the league phase era. A single Turkish entrant, alongside single representatives from seven other associations, illustrates how the qualification routes now spread across Europe.
Mourinho’s Benfica and the Manager Stories
José Mourinho’s Benfica were among the season’s recurring managerial stories, with a Portuguese side built on attacking talent negotiating a league phase that produced fewer ties and more long trips. Mourinho’s presence in the field also underlined the speed at which coaches rebuild projects for a format that demands eight competitive fixtures before Christmas.
What the Season Said About the Format
Two editions in, the league phase has produced what the old group format rarely did: a repeat champion. PSG’s success, Arsenal’s unbeaten run and the four debuts all came out of the same structure — one table, 36 clubs, eight matches — and the 189 matches produced 655 goals. The format page explains how the routing works.