By Ghazali Ibrahim
UEFA has confirmed that the draw for the 2026–27 UEFA Champions League league phase will be held on Thursday, August 27, at its headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, as Europe’s elite clubs prepare for another season of the continent’s premier club competition.
The draw will begin at 5 p.m. BST (12 p.m. ET) and will be streamed live on UEFA’s official website and YouTube channel.
A total of 30 of the 36 clubs have already secured automatic qualification through their domestic league performances during the 2025–26 season.
The remaining six places will be decided through the Champions League qualifying play-offs in August.
England has the highest number of teams in this season’s league phase with six representatives: Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United and Aston Villa. Spain has five clubs, while Germany, Italy and France each have four.
Among the returning sides are Manchester United, Aston Villa, Roma, Real Betis, Lille and Shakhtar Donetsk, all of whom missed previous editions of the competition.
Italian club Como will make their Champions League debut after qualifying for the tournament for the first time in their history.
The 30 clubs already confirmed for the league phase are:
Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United, Aston Villa, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Real Betis, Villarreal, Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig, Stuttgart, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Inter Milan, Roma, Como, Paris Saint-Germain, Lens, Lille, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord, Sporting CP, Galatasaray, Slavia Prague, Porto, Club Brugge and Shakhtar Donetsk.
The Champions League will continue with the revamped 36-team league phase introduced last season.
Each club will play eight matches against eight different opponents, with four games at home and four away. Opponents will be drawn from four seeding pots.
The top eight teams in the standings will qualify directly for the round of 16. Clubs finishing ninth to 24th will contest a two-legged knockout play-off for the remaining last-16 places, while teams outside the top 24 will be eliminated from the competition.
The league phase will kick off on September 8–10, 2026, before continuing across eight matchdays and concluding on January 27, 2027.
The 2026–27 UEFA Champions League final is scheduled for June 5, 2027, at Madrid’s Estadio Metropolitano, which previously hosted the 2019 final between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.
