The league phase draw for the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League will be held on Thursday, August 27, 2026, at 17:00 BST (6pm CEST, 12 noon ET) at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco [1, 2, 3]. A total of 36 teams will compete, including 29 automatic qualifiers and 7 teams that secured places through play-offs completed yesterday [2, 3].
Each team will play eight matches in the league phase, facing two opponents from each of the four seeded pots with four matches at home and four away [1, 2, 3]. Teams are divided into four pots based on UEFA club coefficients over the last five seasons. Pot 1 features top clubs like Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid [1, 2, 3]. Pot 2 includes Aston Villa, Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting CP, Porto, Club Brugge, Real Betis, and PSV Eindhoven [1, 2, 3]. Pots 3 and 4 contain names such as Feyenoord, Lille, Bodo/Glimt, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Slavia Prague, VfB Stuttgart, LASK, Como, Lens, Sabah, AEK Athens, Slovan Bratislava, and Viking [1, 2, 3].
A new UEFA rule for the 2026-27 season prohibits teams from hosting the same opponent three times in a row in consecutive league phases. For example, Liverpool cannot host Real Madrid again, and Arsenal will not travel to Inter Milan this season, BBC Sport reported [1].
After the league phase concludes in January 2027, the top eight teams will advance directly to the round of 16. Teams ranked 9th to 24th will enter a knockout playoff round, while those ranked 25th to 36th will be eliminated from the competition [1, 3]. The league phase runs from September 2026 until January 2027, with knockout rounds following and the final scheduled for early June 2027 [2].
Defending champions Paris Saint-Germain aim for a third consecutive title. Other top contenders include Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Bayern Munich [2, 3].
Qualifying rounds determining the last seven teams for the league stage wrapped up today, a day before the draw ceremony [2, 3]. The draw kicks off at 17:00 BST tomorrow at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, where fixtures for the league phase will be decided [1, 2, 3].
