The 2026/27 UEFA Champions League league-phase draw will take place on Thursday, August 27 in Monaco, with 36 clubs set to discover their opponents for the opening phase of the competition
Here is everything to know ahead of the draw
A total of 36 teams will compete in the league phase, with 29 clubs having qualified automatically at the end of last season and the remaining places determined through qualifying rounds
Under the new format, each team will play eight matches against eight different opponents
Every club will face two teams from each of the four pots, with four matches played at home and four away
The opponents will be selected by a computerised draw system, which determines each club’s eight fixtures while ensuring the competition’s draw rules are followed
Pot 1 features some of Europe’s biggest clubs, including defending champions Paris Saint-Germain
The nine teams currently listed in Pot 1 are:
Manchester United and Europa League winners Aston Villa are among the teams in Pot 2
The pot also includes:
The confirmed Pot 3 teams include:
Several other clubs will be placed in Pot 3 or Pot 4 depending on the outcome of the qualifying rounds
They include Bodo/Glimt, LASK Linz, Sabah, Slavia Prague, Stuttgart, Como, Lens and the winners of Fenerbahce vs Lyon, Dinamo Zagreb vs Viking, Slovan Bratislava vs Celje and Levski Sofia vs AEK Athens
The top eight teams in the league-phase table will qualify directly for the round of 16
Teams finishing from ninth to 24th will enter a two-legged knockout play-off, while clubs finishing 25th or lower will be eliminated from European competition
The teams placed ninth to 16th will be seeded and face clubs finishing 17th to 24th, with the seeded sides hosting the second leg
The eight play-off winners will then face one of the top eight teams in the round of 16
The eight league-phase matchdays are scheduled for:
The knockout phase will begin in February, with the final scheduled for June
The 2026/27 Champions League final will be staged at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid, Spain, on June 5, 2027
The approximately 70,000-capacity stadium, home of Atletico Madrid, will host its second Champions League final after staging Liverpool’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur in 2019.