The league-phase draw for the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League takes place on Thursday in Monaco, with five English clubs among those confirmed for the competition. Here is everything you need to know.

How the draw works

A total of 36 clubs will contest the league phase — 29 have already qualified at the end of last season, with the remaining seven spots decided by ongoing qualifiers. A supercomputer handles the draw itself, selecting each club's eight opponents at the touch of a button.

Under the format now entering its third season, every side plays eight league-phase fixtures: two against clubs from each of the four pots. Four of those matches are at home, four away.

Pot allocations

Pot positions are determined by UEFA's club coefficient rankings, which reflect European results across the five-year period ending in 2025/26.

Pot 1 contains the competition's heavyweights: back-to-back champions Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester City, Inter Milan, Arsenal, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid.

Pot 2 includes Manchester United and Europa League winners Aston Villa — both clubs returning to Europe's elite stage — alongside Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting, Porto, Club Brugge, PSV Eindhoven, and Real Betis.

Pot 3 features Feyenoord, Lille, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray, and the winner of Fenerbahce vs Lyon.

Several spots in Pots 3 and 4 remain subject to qualifier results. Bodo/Glimt, holding a 3-1 aggregate lead over NEC Nijmegen, would enter Pot 3 if they advance. Celtic, who face LASK, and the winners of Dinamo Zagreb vs Viking and Celtic vs LASK could land in Pot 3 or Pot 4, alongside Slavia Prague. Confirmed Pot 4 sides include VfB Stuttgart, Como, Lens, and the winners of Slovan Bratislava vs Celje, Levski Sofia vs AEK Athens, and Hapoel Be'er Sheva vs Sabah.

How clubs progress

The top eight clubs in the league-phase standings advance directly to the round of 16. Clubs finishing 25th or lower are eliminated entirely — there is no Europa League consolation for those sides.

Clubs finishing between ninth and 24th enter a two-legged knockout-phase play-off. The ninth-to-16th-placed clubs are seeded and host the second leg against opponents ranked 17th to 24th. The eight play-off winners then face one of the top-eight finishers for a place in the quarter-finals.

League-phase match dates

Matchday 1: September 8–10 | Matchday 2: October 13/14 | Matchday 3: October 20/21 | Matchday 4: November 3/4 | Matchday 5: November 24/25 | Matchday 6: December 8/9 | Matchday 7: January 19/20 | Matchday 8: January 27.

Knockout-phase dates

Knockout-phase play-offs: February 16/17 and 23/24. Round of 16: March 9/10 and 16/17. Quarter-finals: April 6/7 and 13/14. Semi-finals: April 27/28 and May 4/5. Final: June 5.

The final

The 2026/27 UEFA Champions League final will be held at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid, Spain, on June 5, 2027.