The 2026-27 Champions League league phase draw was made at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Thursday evening. Thirty-six clubs each came away with eight opponents — two from every pot, four at home and four away — and the competition now has its 144 matches. Türkiye has two of the thirty-six, and both landed in the same pot.
Four pots, drawn on club coefficient
The pots are built from the 2026 UEFA club coefficients, with one exception: the holders go into Pot 1 as the top seed regardless of their number. That is why Paris Saint-Germain head the draw on 132.000 while Bayern München, on 147.500, are the highest-rated club in the competition. Below them the ordering is arithmetic, and it produces some awkward company — Borussia Dortmund on 100.750 are the best team in Pot 2, above Roma, Sporting and a Porto side on 80.750.
Pot 1, in coefficient order: Bayern München 147.500, Real Madrid 144.500, Paris Saint-Germain 132.000, Liverpool 130.000, Internazionale 127.000, Manchester City 125.500, Arsenal 119.000, Barcelona 113.250, Atlético Madrid 104.750. Every club in the league phase plays two of them.
Türkiye’s two
Galatasaray came in as champions and went straight to the league phase. Fenerbahçe had to earn it, beating Górnik Zabrze, Sturm Graz and then Lyon over three rounds to get here. Both were drawn into Pot 3, and neither draw is kind: Galatasaray host Barcelona and travel to Paris Saint-Germain, Fenerbahçe host Liverpool and travel to Atlético Madrid.
Galatasaray’s eight. H = home, A = away.
Fenerbahçe’s eight. H = home, A = away.
Not every draw is equal
The format promises symmetry — two clubs from each pot, home and away — but it does not promise equal difficulty. Average the coefficients of a club’s eight opponents and the spread is nearly fourteen points wide. Arsenal drew the hardest schedule in the competition at 81.1; Napoli drew the softest at 67.2, and Liverpool, from the same Pot 1, are barely above them on 67.8. Galatasaray sit at 75.4 and Fenerbahçe at 74.5 — both above the median, neither at the extreme.
England
Spain
ItalyItaly
Austria
France
TürkiyeTürkiye
GermanyGermanyEngland
NetherlandsItalyThe six hardest and six softest schedules, with the two Turkish clubs in between.
Four clubs who have never been here
Como, LASK, Sabah and Viking are all in a Champions League group or league phase for the first time. Como had never played European football at all before this season; Sabah are the first Azerbaijani debutants at this stage in a major UEFA competition. Real Betis are back for the first time since 2005-06. And Norway has two clubs in the main stage for the first time since 1999-2000 — Bodø/Glimt through the play-off, Viking alongside them.
When it happens
- 8-10 SepMatchday 1The competition’s exclusive week — the only one with Thursday fixtures.
- 13-14 OctMatchday 2
- 20-21 OctMatchday 3
- 3-4 NovMatchday 4
- 24-25 NovMatchday 5
- 8-9 DecMatchday 6
- 19-20 JanMatchday 7
- 27 JanMatchday 8All eighteen matches kick off simultaneously at 21:00 CET.
The exact dates and kick-off times for each fixture are announced on 29 August, once UEFA has checked them against the Europa League and Conference League calendars so that two clubs in the same city do not play at home on the same night. The final is on 5 June 2027 at the Metropolitano in Madrid.
Draw made at the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, on 27 August 2026. Pairings, pot allocations and club coefficients as published by UEFA on the night of the draw; average opponent coefficients calculated from those same figures.