European football's showpiece club competition returns to the spotlight this afternoon as the 2026/27 Champions League league phase draw takes place in Monaco, setting the stage for another season of continental drama. The ceremony, held at the Grimaldi Forum, begins at 5pm BST on Thursday, August 27, with all 36 qualified clubs discovering their eight league phase opponents.
Five Premier League clubs have secured their places in this season's tournament. English champions Arsenal and runners-up Manchester City lead the domestic contingent, joined by Manchester United, fourth-placed Aston Villa – who also qualify as Europa League holders – and fifth-placed Liverpool. Notably absent is Celtic, who suffered a surprise exit in the play-off round at the hands of LASK.
Paris Saint-Germain arrive in Monaco as favourites to lift the trophy for a third consecutive year, having reinforced their squad over the summer following their penalty shootout triumph over Arsenal in last season's final. Arsenal are widely regarded as PSG's closest challengers, with Barcelona and a Jose Mourinho-managed Real Madrid also expected to feature prominently in the title race.
The draw will be broadcast live in the UK on TNT Sports 1, with streaming available via HBO Max and free coverage also offered through UEFA.com and the TNT Sports YouTube channel.
As in previous seasons, the 36 clubs have been split into four seeding pots of nine based on UEFA club coefficients, finalised on Wednesday evening after the conclusion of the play-off round. Pot 1 features PSG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. Pot 2 includes Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting CP, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis and PSV Eindhoven. Pot 3 comprises Feyenoord, Lille, Bodo/Glimt, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Fenerbahce, Shakhtar Donetsk and Galatasaray, while Pot 4 rounds out the field with Slavia Prague, Slovan Bratislava, Stuttgart, AEK Athens, LASK, Como, Lens, Viking and Sabah.
Under the competition's league phase format, introduced in recent seasons, each club will contest eight matches rather than facing three opponents home and away as in the old group stage. Instead, every team will be drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots, playing one fixture at home and one away against a team from each pot.
Once the league phase concludes, the top eight sides will advance directly to the round of 16. Clubs finishing between ninth and 24th will enter a knockout-phase play-off, with those ranked ninth to 16th seeded to host the second leg. Any team finishing 25th or below will be eliminated altogether, with no safety net into the Europa League.
The fixture calendar has also been confirmed, with Matchday 1 running from September 8-10 before subsequent rounds in October, November, December and January. The knockout-phase play-offs are scheduled for February 16/17 and 23/24, followed by the round of 16 in March, quarter-finals in April, and semi-finals stretching into early May. The final will be staged at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid on June 5.
Attention will also soon turn to UEFA's other club competitions, with the Europa League and Conference League draws following on Friday, August 28, also in Monaco, completing the picture for Europe's 2026/27 club season.
Based on reporting from Standard Sport, The Independent, and BBC Sport.