Eighteen clubs secured their participation in the Champions League playoffs one round before the end of the main stage. The teams ranked from first to eighth will advance directly to the 1/8 finals, and 16 more participants will play in the playoff playoff round, where the teams ranked from ninth to 16th will be seeded. The winners of this round will advance to the 1/8 finals, while the losers will continue the European season in the Europa League.

Before the eighth round, English Liverpool and Spanish Barcelona guaranteed themselves a direct ticket to the 1/8 finals, while English Arsenal and Italian Inter will at least be seeded in the playoff round. Milan, Atalanta, Juventus (all from Italy), Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Borussia (all from Germany), Monaco, Lille, Brest (all from France), and Atletico will also qualify for the playoffs, Real Madrid (both from Spain), Aston Villa (England), Feyenoord (Netherlands) and Celtic (Scotland).

Nine clubs lost their chances for the playoffs and the continuation of the European Cup season: Sturm, Salzburg (both Austria), Bologna (Italy), Sparta (Czech Republic), Leipzig (Germany), Girona (Spain), Crvena Zvezda (Serbia), Slovan (Slovakia) and Young Boys (Switzerland).

All 18 matches of the eighth and final round of the general stage of the Champions League will be held on the night of January 29-30 and will begin simultaneously at 01:00 Ashgabat time.