UEFA Champions League Draw Details and Regulations

The UEFA Champions League returns after an extensive football summer, highlighted by the 2026 World Cup. The league-phase draw occurs today, Thursday, August 27. This follows four completed rounds of qualifying. The competition’s initial stage starts on Tuesday, September 8.

In the previous final in Budapest, Paris Saint-Germain defeated Arsenal 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw, marking PSG’s second consecutive title. The 36 teams now aim for the 2026-27 final, scheduled for June at Madrid’s Metropolitano stadium. Today’s draw will outline their paths.

Champions League Draw Details

The league-phase draw takes place today at 5 PM BST (12 PM ET) at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum. This follows the final round of qualifying that ended last night. The Europa League and Conference League draws occur tomorrow, Friday, August 28, at 12 PM BST.

Fans can watch the draw on UEFA’s website, and in the United Kingdom, also on TNT Sports 1 and the TNT Sports YouTube channel.

Draw Process

The draw divides the 36 teams into four pots of nine, based on UEFA club coefficient rankings from the past five years. Pot 1 contains the highest-ranked teams, while Pot 4 holds the lowest.

Special guests, usually football stars, draw balls representing each team from the pots. A computer then assigns opponents for each team, with two from each pot. This results in eight matches per team, split evenly between home and away fixtures. Teams from the same country do not face each other at this stage.

Team Distribution in Pots

• Pot 1: PSG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid
• Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting CP, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis, PSV
• Pot 3: Feyenoord, Lille, Bodo/Glimt, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray, Fenerbahce
• Pot 4: Slavia Prague, Stuttgart, LASK, Como, Lens, Sabah, Viking, Slovan Bratislava, AEK Athens

Fixture Announcement

According to UEFA, all fixture details, including dates and times, will be announced by Saturday, August 29. The league phase starts on Tuesday, September 8, and finishes with all 36 teams playing simultaneously on Wednesday, January 27.

Possible Matchups

Each team will play against two teams from each of the four pots, with the exclusion of opponents from their own country. A new rule for 2026-27 restricts clubs from having the same league-phase fixture with the same opposing team for three consecutive seasons.

“Any individual fixture between the same two teams may not be repeated in the same competition with the same home team for three consecutive seasons,” outlines paragraph 16.03 of the Champions League regulations.

This primarily impacts Arsenal and Liverpool. Arsenal cannot play Inter at San Siro after facing them there in the past two phases. Similarly, Liverpool will not host Madrid for a third consecutive phase.