It’s been a long summer of football thanks to the 2026 World Cup, but now the UEFA Champions League is back. At least, almost. Once the four qualifying rounds have been completed, the draw for the league stage will take place today (Thursday, August 27), with the initial phase of the competition beginning on Tuesday, September 8. Last season’s final was one to remember for Arsenal fans as Paris Saint-Germain won their second consecutive Champions League title, beating the Londoners 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in Budapest. The 36 qualified teams will dream of reaching the qualifying phase. Final 2026-27, which will be played in June at the Metropolitano stadium in Madrid. The league stage draw will determine how that path plays out, so let’s go over how it will all work. When is the Champions League draw? The draw for this year’s league stage will take place today (Thursday 27 August, from 5pm BST/12pm ET) at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. This follows the final round of qualifying matches that concluded the night before. As for the equivalents in the second-tier Europa League and third-tier Conference League, they will take place a day later, starting at 12pm BST on Friday 28 August. To view the draw, you can find it on the UEFA website, UEFA.com. For UK readers, it will also be available on TNT Sports 1 and the TNT Sports YouTube channel. (Harold Cunningham/AFP via Getty Images) How does the Champions League draw work? The 36 teams are divided into four pots of nine based on their UEFA club coefficient ranking, which is determined based on performance over the last five years, with Pot 1 for the highest-rated teams and Pot 4 for the lowest. The UEFA supercomputer then automates the team’s opponents in the league phase, which will be made up of two from each of the pots, making eight games in total, four of them at home and four away. However, no team from the same country can face each other in this initial phase. What hype is each team in? Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City are in Pot 1, along with consecutive European champions PSG, plus Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid and Inter. Manchester United and last season’s Europa League winner Aston Villa, both in Pot 2, are the only English teams not in Pot 1. In Pot 4 are Champions League debutants Como (Italy), Sabah (Azerbaijan), LASK (Austria), Viking (Norway) and Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia). Pot 1 Paris Saint-Germain (France) Bayern Munich (Germany) Real Madrid (Spain) Liverpool (England) Inter (Italy) Manchester City (England) Arsenal (England) Barcelona (Spain) Atlético de Madrid (Spain) Pot 2 Borussia Dortmund (Germany) Roma (Italy) Sporting CP (Portugal) Aston Villa (England) Porto (Portugal) Manchester United (England) Club Brugge (Belgium) Real Betis (Spain) PSV (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 Slavia Prague (Czech Republic) Stuttgart (Germany) LASK (Austria) Como (Italy) Lens (France) Sabah (Azerbaijan) Viking (Norway) Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) AEK Athens (Greece) When will the matches be announced? According to the UEFA website, all match details, including dates and kick-off times, will be announced on Saturday, August 29. The league phase begins on Tuesday, September 8 and concludes with a bonanza of 18 games, when all 36 teams play simultaneously, on Wednesday, January 27. Who could each club play against? Each team could face any two opponents from each of the four pots, except those from the same country as them. A new rule being introduced for 2026-27 also places more restrictions on potential opponents. Two clubs cannot play the same individual match in the league phase for three consecutive seasons. The rule, found in paragraph 16.03 of last season’s Champions League regulations, comes into effect now that we are in the third year of the current tournament format. seasons,” the regulations state. This affects two of the five English clubs: Arsenal and Liverpool. Arsenal have faced Inter at the San Siro in Milan in the league stage of the Champions League in each of the last two seasons (Carl Recine/Getty Images). Arsenal have faced Inter at the San Siro in Milan in the previous two league stages, a 1-0 loss in November 2024 and a 3-1 victory in January this year. That means they cannot play the reigning Serie A champions away from home for the third time in a row in the next league phase, so they will definitely face one of the other non-English teams in Pot 1 (PSG, Bayern, Madrid, Barça or Atlético) away from home, but they can still face Inter at Emirates Stadium in north London. In the previous two league phases, Liverpool hosted Madrid and won both games, 2-0 in November 2024 and. 1-0 12 months later. So this time their rivals in Pot 1 at Anfield will be PSG (who have visited them in the knockout rounds in successive seasons), Bayern, Barça, Atlético or Inter.
