Eight teams remain in European soccer’s elite club competition: the UEFA Champions League.
The Round of 16 saw several eye-opening scorelines across the two-legged ties, with defending champion PSG thrashing Chelsea 8-2, Real Madrid eliminating Manchester City 5-1, and Bayern Munich asserting its authority with a 10-2 demolition of Atalanta.
There are some mouthwatering ties to come in the UCL Quarterfinals, which begin on Tuesday, so there’s no better time than now to look at the latest Champions League winner odds.
Champions League Winner Odds
Soccer odds used for these Champions League winner predictions are current as of Tuesday, April 7, and courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
- Arsenal (+225)
- Bayern Munich (+330)
- Barcelona (+450)
- PSG (+550)
- Real Madrid (+750)
- Liverpool (+900)
- Atletico Madrid (+2000)
- Sporting Lisbon (+5000)
Which Team Will Win the Champions League?
Bayern Munich (+330)
After falling to runners-up Inter Milan at last year’s quarterfinal stage, the German giants look poised for a deeper run in this year’s competition.
Bayern dispatched Atalanta with ease in the Round of 16, winning the first leg 6-1 in Italy to essentially kill the tie before following that up with a 4-1 victory at the Allianz Arena.
The Bundesliga leaders sit nine points clear of Dortmund domestically, allowing them to focus all their efforts on the Champions League, a luxury not shared by most other clubs at this point.
Despite a difficult draw, which will see Bayern face Real Madrid and then the winner of PSG/Liverpool just to reach the final, I’m backing Vincent Kompany’s squad to win its first Champions League title since 2020 as my best UCL bet today.
Champions League Favorites
Arsenal (+225)
The Gunners went 8-0-0 to finish top of the league phase, setting them up with a favorable Champions League draw.
Still, Mikel Arteta’s squad only squeaked past Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 in the Round of 16, setting up a date with a familiar foe, Sporting Lisbon, in the quarterfinals.
Arsenal reached the UCL semifinals last season, where they were beaten by eventual winners PSG, and the Gunners are heavy favorites to reach that stage again.
Should they advance past Sporting, Arsenal would face either Atletico Madrid or Barcelona for the chance to reach the final in Budapest.
While the Gunners have a strong chance to reach their first final since 2006, I can’t back them to win their first title in this competition at these short odds.
Barcelona (+450)
Barcelona showed its quality in the second leg of its Round of 16 tie against Newcastle, putting the Premier League side to the sword with a 7-2 home victory.
La Blaugrana will now face fellow La Liga side Atletico Madrid in the quarterfinals, giving Barcelona the chance to avenge its 4-3 Copa Del Rey defeat to Atletico across two legs earlier this year. That said, these two teams know each other very well, so I would expect a similarly close tie.
Barcelona sits seven points clear at the top of La Liga and is technically on the easier side of the draw, so I understand the appeal here, but I’m not sure I’m buying in at this price.
Champions League Sleeper
PSG (+550)
As the defending champion, PSG doesn’t really qualify as a sleeper pick.
However, I don’t quite understand why Luis Enrique’s team has the fourth-longest odds to win this trophy.
- Get in-depth UCL analysis ahead of matchdays with our Champions League predictions.
PSG has one of the deepest, most talented squads in Europe, and it has proven its credentials in this competition by finally getting over the hump last year.
The Ligue 1 side’s difficult draw is likely playing a role here, but I don’t view Liverpool as much of a threat in the quarterfinals. Should PSG get through that and a semifinal against Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, it’ll be the favorite in the final.
Champions League Format
With the addition of four more teams, UEFA had to move away from the traditional Champions League format, which saw 32 teams separated into eight groups of four for the group stage. That setup has been replaced with a league phase, which will see all 36 teams compete in one singular league table.
Each team will play a total of eight league phase games, four home and four away, against eight unique opponents. These opponents will be comprised of two teams from Pots 1-4, ensuring that every team has a relatively similar strength of schedule per the UEFA coefficient.
At the end of the league phase, the top eight teams will automatically qualify for the Round of 16. The bottom 12 teams will be eliminated from European competition entirely, as teams will no longer drop into the Europa League.
The remaining teams will qualify for the knockout phase playoffs, which will see the clubs ranked 9-16 drawn against those that finished in spots 17-24 for a two-legged knockout tie. While there will be a draw for this stage, teams will only have two possible opponents, as teams 9-10 will be drawn against teams 23-24, etc.
The winner of these ties will advance to the Round of 16, which will also have a similar draw based on seeding. So, teams that finished 1st or 2nd in the table will come against teams that advance from the knockout phase playoff ties involving the teams that finished 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th (and so on).
It’s also worth noting that UEFA has scrapped league protection from this stage of the competition onwards (it previously existed until the quarterfinals), so Premier League clubs like Manchester City and Liverpool could theoretically meet in the Round of 16.
Once the Round of 16 draw is set, the competition will continue as it has in recent years, with a fixed bracket of teams playing two-legged ties until we reach the single-leg final.
Past Champions League Winners
2025: PSG
2024: Real Madrid
2023: Manchester City
2022: Real Madrid
2021: Chelsea
2020: Bayern Munich
2019: Liverpool
2018: Real Madrid
2017: Real Madrid
2016: Real Madrid
2015: Barcelona
