Champions League 2026-27 Draw Set for Monaco with 36 Teams Competing
The draw for the league phase of the 2026-27 Champions League is scheduled to take place at 17:00 BST in Monaco. This year, 36 teams will participate in the league phase, where each team will play against eight different teams—four at home and four away.
For the draw, the teams will be categorized into four pots, with pot one featuring the highest-ranked clubs and pot four the lowest-ranked. The allocation of teams into these pots relies on the Uefa club coefficient ranking over the five seasons concluding in the 2025-26 season.
In the league phase, each team will encounter two teams from each pot, with the stipulation that they cannot compete against a team from their own country. The top eight teams will secure a place in the last 16, while those ranked between ninth and 24th will enter a play-off knockout round. The 12 teams placed from 25th to 36th will be eliminated from the competition once the league phase concludes.
Notable Premier League clubs, including Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal, will participate in pot one, joining back-to-back Champions League winners Paris St-Germain, along with Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid.
Additionally, Aston Villa and Manchester United are making a return to the Champions League this season after missing out last year. They will be placed in pot two, which also includes Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting, Porto, Club Brugge, Real Betis, and PSV Eindhoven.
The league phase draw for the 2026-27 Champions League takes place at 17:00 BST in Monaco.
A total of 36 teams will take part in the league phase and each team will face eight different teams once, with four home matches and four away matches.
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For the draw, the 36 teams will be placed into four pots, with one being the highest-ranked and four being the lowest. The pot placements are based on the clubs’ Uefa club coefficient ranking from the five-season period ending at the conclusion of 2025-26.
Each team will face two teams from each of the four pots and cannot face a team from the same country as themselves.
The teams who finish in the top eight will qualify for the last 16. Those between ninth and 24th will enter the play-off knockout round. The 12 teams ranked between 25th and 36th will exit the competition when the league phase is concluded.
Premier League clubs Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal all feature in pot one alongside back-to-back Champions League winners Paris St-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
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Aston Villa and Manchester United both return to the Champions League this season after not featuring last term. They are in pot two with Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting, Porto, Club Brugge, Real Betis and PSV Eindhoven.
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