Rabat – The draw for the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League league phase will take place on Thursday, August 27, with Europe’s top clubs set to discover their opponents for the next stage of the competition.
The draw will be held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco from 6 p.m. CET. It will feature 36 teams, including 29 clubs that qualified directly for the league phase and seven play-off winners.
The Champions League will continue with its league-phase format. Instead of being divided into traditional groups, all 36 clubs will compete in one league table.
The procedure
Each team will play eight matches against eight different opponents. Four matches will be played at home and four away.
The 36 teams will be divided into four pots of nine clubs. Each team will face two opponents from each pot, with one home and one away match against clubs from each pot. Teams from the same association cannot normally face each other, while each club can face a maximum of two teams from another association.
The Champions League play-off round will decide the final seven places. The second legs are being played on August 25 and 26, with the winners advancing to the league phase.
Several European giants have already secured their places in the league phase. They include Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, and Atlético Madrid.
The tournament’s phases
The league phase will begin on September 8, 2026. The eight-matchday stage will conclude on January 27, 2027.
The knockout phase will then begin in February 2027. The knockout phase play-offs are scheduled for February 16-17 and 23-24, followed by the round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals.
The Champions League final will take place on June 5, 2027, at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid.
While the August 27 draw will determine the league-phase matchups, the 2026-27 Champions League campaign officially began on July 7 with the first qualifying round. The draw therefore marks the beginning of the league phase rather than the start of the overall competition.
The ceremony in Monaco will give Europe’s biggest clubs their first clear picture of the opponents they must face on their path toward the final in Madrid.
