The 2026/27 Champions League league phase draw takes place on Thursday, August 27, at 5 p.m. BST in Monaco. All 36 clubs will learn their eight opponents, setting the tone for the entire campaign.
What Happens on Thursday
This is not the old group-stage format. The competition uses a league phase, and every club gets a different set of fixtures instead of a shared group schedule.
The draw assigns eight opponents to each team, with pairings built from the four seeding pots.
How the Format Works
Each club faces two teams from each pot, which creates eight matches in total.
- Four pots of nine clubs each are used for seeding.
- Teams are paired with two opponents from every pot.
- One match from each pot is home and the other is away.
- Clubs cannot be drawn against another team from their own country.
- No club can face more than two teams from the same foreign association.
Who Is In the Mix
The top seed group includes Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid.
Pot 2 includes Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis, and PSV Eindhoven.
Pot 3 features Feyenoord, Lille, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk, and other qualified sides such as Galatasaray and the winner of Fenerbahce against Lyon.
Pot 4 contains clubs such as Slavia Prague, VfB Stuttgart, Como, Lens, and Sabah, along with the remaining playoff winners.
Why This Draw Matters
The new system makes every draw feel personal because no two clubs receive the same schedule.
That means a favorable set of opponents can shape the whole league phase, while a difficult one can make qualification feel brutal from the start.
