Arsenal will be unable to play a specific Champions League fixture next season

Arsenal will be barred from facing Slavia Prague on Czech soil next season due to a UEFA ruling. The Gunners are eyeing yet another three points in the Champions League as they gear up to take on the Czech outfit at Fortuna Arena on Wednesday.

It is a well-trodden path for Mikel Arteta's men, having come up against the same opponents at the same ground in November 2025. Arsenal will be hoping to replicate their previous encounter, which saw a Bukayo Saka penalty and a Mikel Merino brace steer the Gunners to a commanding 3-0 victory.

The Premier League champions reclaimed top spot in the league after ending their Anfield curse with a win over Liverpool on Sunday, and will head into Wednesday's clash full of belief. However, despite that confidence, Arsenal will be unable to meet their upcoming opponents at Fortuna Arena next season.

A Champions League rule change, introduced in last season's regulations, prohibits the same home side from being drawn against the same opponent in the league phase of the competition for three successive years. Consequently, while Arsenal could still welcome Slavia Prague to the Emirates Stadium next term, they would be banned from travelling to the Czech capital to face them unless the two sides meet in the knockout stages.

Paragraph 16.03 of last season's Champions League regulations states: "UEFA administration may determine alternative conditions for the draw in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee and may adapt any of the conditions of the draw to avoid deadlock situations and/or take into account any relevant constraints in light of decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee.

"The UEFA Club Competitions Committee has determined an additional condition that may be applicable to the UEFA Champions League draw for the 2026/27 season, deciding that any individual fixture between the same two teams may not be repeated in the same competition with the same home team for three consecutive seasons.

"This means that if any teams that already played against each other in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in the 2024/25 season are again drawn against each other, with the same home team, in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in this 2025/26 season, those teams will not be able to be drawn against each other with the same home team in the 2026/27 season."

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Arsenal are looking to return to winning form in the Champions League after being held to a 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich. Having agonisingly fallen short of claiming the prestigious trophy for the first time in their history last season, Arteta remains upbeat about his squad's prospects following their hard-fought victory over Liverpool at the weekend.

"Just loving the mission," the Arsenal boss said of his side's win at Anfield. "And the mission was something that we didn't accomplish in 14 years. And there were reasons for that. Some of them were psychological problems. Some of them were related to the quality that we showed on the pitch, certain moments or decisions.

"And we knew that we need to nail absolutely all of them. And we're going to have to navigate through periods that we're going to have to suffer because they are extremely good at doing that and creating those vertical attacks, those chaos moments for almost nothing. And you really need to enjoy that.

"If you don't, there will be a moment they will switch up and they will punish you. And yeah, I think the way we competed and played and the chances that we generated as well, it was really impressive. So I'm really happy."

Fans can watch Slavia Prague vs Arsenal live on TNT Sports

Watch Slavia Prague vs Arsenal on TNT Sports

Arsenal face Slavia Prague in the Champions League on November 4. Fans can watch the game live on TNT Sports via HBO Max or Prime Video's TNT Sports channel.