2025-26 Champions League tournament so far: predictions & leaders
By Mohnish Kripalani
(Fa hey, 2025)
The 2025-26 UEFA Champions League tournament has emerged as one of the most competitive and exciting competitions in recent years, marked by an expanded 36-team format with a single league table playing eight matches each, rather than 6 games with the 32-team group stage format. This structure had increased its competitiveness by relying more on consistency and performance rather than on matchmaking circumstances, leading to raised stakes and a more intense battle for qualification.
Against all odds, Paris-Saint-Germain had managed to win the tournament last year for the first time, despite the departure of their star player Kylian Mbappe. Despite an impressive previous season, Paris-Saint-Germain are unlikely to become back-to-back champions due to their ongoing injury crisis, sidelining 2 crucial players for 2–3 months, with Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé suffering a calf tear, and Potential African Player of the Year Achraf Hakimi suffering a sprained ankle.
Currently, 15-time UEFA Champions League winner, Real Madrid, is considered the favourite despite their underwhelming previous season and a recent loss to Liverpool. This is overshadowed by their solid start in the Spanish League with a statement victory against Barcelona in the El Clásico. Furthermore, their star player, Kylian Mbappe, has had an ideal start to the season as he is averaging 1.25 goal contributions in 15 games so far this season and is currently one of the favourites to become a back-to-back golden boot winner.
Award Predictions
Team Awards
Despite the hype surrounding Real Madrid and Kylian Mbappe, it is hard to ignore Arsenal's dominant start to the season as they are currently on top of the table in both the Premier League and the Champions League. Additionally, they have also developed their front line by signing Victor Gyokeres in the summer, which could be the final piece of the puzzle for them, as they had reached the semi-finals in the previous season, whilst finishing 2nd once again in the English League, giving them the hunger to dominate this season. A team to keep our eyes on this season is Inter Milan, as they have been runner-ups twice in the past 2 years, including last season. So far, they have had a solid start to the season as they are tied in first place with Bayern Munich and Arsenal, whilst also being a point away from first place in their domestic league. Inter Milan enters this season hungry, as they finished second in the Champions League and in the Italian league last season. A team that could potentially have a disappointing season could be Liverpool FC, as they have had a rough start to this season, due to the pressure from last season, where they had won the Premier League. So far, manager Arnie Slot is under pressure as he could potentially lose his job as the team is slowly falling apart after last year's exceptional season, as Mohamed Salah isn’t playing to his usual standards, whilst new players such as Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz are still struggling to adjust to the club. Furthermore, Liverpool is lacking playmaking and creativity skills, especially since the departure of their English Fullback, Trent-Alexander-Arnold.
Individual Awards
Our predicted winner for the Golden Boot and the Player of the Season goes to English Striker, Harry Kane. So far, he has had 21 goals across 15 games in all competitions. Bayern Munich are also first in the Champions League and in the Bundesliga, with Kane being their best player. Our predicted winner for the best Playmaker of the tournament goes to Declan Rice, purely due to Arsenal's Success across all competitions, along with the signing of a dominant striker, Victor Gyokeres, giving more chances for a playmaker such as Declan Rice to feed assists to the forwards in Arsenal. Our young player of the year goes to Lamine Yamal. As an 18-year-old, he is just getting started and is simply a whole level above other young players, as he averages 1 goal contribution per game across all competitions. He has 10 G/A in 10 games so far this season. A player to keep an eye out for is Marcus Rashford. After being loaned out to FC Barcelona, Marcus Rashford has finally gone back to his usual form, as he has the same amount of goal contributions this season as Lamine Yamal. With this continuous form, Rashford could become a dangerous threat to opposing teams regardless of whether he is played up top or on the wing. Finally, a player who we predict to have an underwhelming season is Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, as he has had only 4 goal contributions in 8 games so far this season due to a series of different muscle injuries. He kick-started the season with a lingering hamstring injury and is now suffering a calf injury, which could sideline him for months.