The eagerly awaited draw for the brand-new 2026-27 UEFA Champions League league phase is scheduled to take place this Thursday, 27 August, kicking off at 17:00 BST at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. This edition marks a historic shift for European football’s premier club competition, with the expanded format welcoming 36 teams to the league stage instead of the traditional 32. Of these 36 participants, 29 secured their places automatically following the conclusion of the 2025-26 domestic and continental seasons, while the final seven spots were claimed through last-week’s play-off rounds.
Under the revamped competition structure, every side in the league phase will play eight unique opponents, with four fixtures hosted at their home ground and four played away. To organize the draw, the 36 qualified teams have been seeded into four separate pots based on their official UEFA club coefficient rankings, calculated across the five-season cycle ending with the 2025-26 campaign. Pot 1 contains the highest-ranked clubs, while Pot 4 holds the lowest-ranked entrants. A core draw rule mandates that each team will face two opponents from every pot, and no club will be drawn against a fellow team from the same national league, avoiding cross-country derby matches in the league stage.
A brand-new additional rule, announced by UEFA just this Wednesday, has already sparked significant discussion among fans. The regulation prohibits clubs from hosting the same opponent in three consecutive Champions League league phases. This specific rule means Liverpool cannot be drawn to host Spanish giants Real Madrid at Anfield in this season’s league phase, while Premier League title holders Arsenal cannot be scheduled to travel to San Siro to face Inter Milan. It is still possible for the reverse fixtures to happen, however: Real Madrid could host Liverpool at the Bernabéu, and Inter could visit Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.
Once the league phase wraps up, the outcome will shape the knockout rounds of the competition. The eight clubs that finish the league stage in the top eight positions will earn an automatic spot in the Champions League round of 16. Clubs that land between 9th and 24th place will advance to a knockout play-off round, where they will compete for the remaining eight spots in the round of 16. Any clubs that finish between 25th and 36th will be eliminated from the competition immediately after the league phase concludes.
For English football fans, five Premier League clubs have qualified for this expanded league phase, with three earning a place in the top-seeded Pot 1. Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal join back-to-back Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Barcelona, and Atlético Madrid in the highest-ranked pot. Two English clubs make their return to the Champions League after missing out on qualification last season: Aston Villa and Manchester United are both seeded in Pot 2, alongside Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting CP, Porto, Club Brugge, Real Betis, and PSV Eindhoven.
Pot 3 is made up of Feyenoord, Lille, Bodo/Glimt, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray, and Fenerbahce. The lowest-ranked Pot 4 includes Slavia Prague, VfB Stuttgart, LASK, Como, Lens, Sabah, AEK Athens, Slovan Bratislava, and Viking. Fans across the UK can watch the draw live for free via BBC iPlayer, as well as the BBC Sport website and mobile application.
Full list of 2026-27 Champions League league phase pots:
– Pot 1: Paris St-Germain (France), Bayern Munich (Germany), Real Madrid (Spain), Liverpool (England), Inter Milan (Italy), Manchester City (England), Arsenal (England), Barcelona (Spain), Atletico Madrid (Spain)
– Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Roma (Italy), Sporting CP (Portugal), Aston Villa (England), FC Porto (Portugal), Manchester United (England), Club Brugge (Belgium), Real Betis (Spain), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
– Pot 3: Feyenoord (Netherlands), Lille (France), Bodo/Glimt (Norway), Napoli (Italy), RB Leipzig (Germany), Villarreal (Spain), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Galatasaray (Turkey), Fenerbahce (Turkey)
– Pot 4: Viking (Norway), Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia), Slavia Prague (Czech Republic), VfB Stuttgart (Germany), LASK (Austria), AEK Athens (Greece), Como (Italy), Lens (France), Sabah (Azerbaijan)