2026–27 UEFA Champions League league phase

International football club competition in Europe From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2026–27 UEFA Champions League league phase will begin on 8 September 2026 and end on 27 January 2027. A total of 36 teams will compete in the league phase to decide the 24 places in the knockout phase of the 2026–27 UEFA Champions League.

Real Betis will make their first appearance in the Champions League since the 2005–06 season.[1] Como, LASK, Sabah and Viking will make their debut appearances in the league phase/group stage.[2][3]

Format

Each will play eight matches, four at home and four away, against eight different opponents, with all 36 teams ranked in a single league table. Teams will be separated into four pots based on their 2026 UEFA club coefficients, and each team will play two teams from each of the four pots – one at home and one away. The top eight teams in the standings will receive a bye to the round of 16. The teams ranked from 9th to 24th will contest the knockout phase play-offs, with the teams ranked from 9th to 16th seeded for the draw. Teams ranked from 25th to 36th will be eliminated from European competition.

Tiebreakers

Teams will be ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points upon completion of the league phase, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine their rankings:[4]

  1. Goal difference;
  2. Goals scored;
  3. Away goals scored;
  4. Wins;
  5. Away wins;
  6. Higher number of points obtained collectively by league phase opponents;
  7. Superior collective goal difference of league phase opponents;
  8. Higher number of goals scored collectively by league phase opponents;
  9. Lower disciplinary points total (direct red card or expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point);
  10. UEFA club coefficient.

Teams and seeding

The 36 teams will be divided into four pots of nine teams each, with the Champions League title holders automatically placed as the top seed of pot 1. All remaining teams will be allocated to pots based on their 2026 UEFA club coefficients.[5] The participants will include:

Pots 1 and 2 are confirmed, while the allocation of the remaining teams between pots 3 and 4 is provisional.

More information Key to colours ...
Key to colours
Teams ranked 1 to 8 advance to the round of 16 as a seeded team
Teams ranked 9 to 16 advance to the knockout phase play-offs as a seeded team
Teams ranked 17 to 24 advance to the knockout phase play-offs as an unseeded team
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More information Team, Notes ...
Pot 1
Team Notes Coeff.
French Football Federation Paris Saint-Germain[TH] 132.000
German Football Association Bayern Munich 147.500
Royal Spanish Football Federation Real Madrid 144.500
The Football Association Liverpool 130.000
Italian Football Federation Inter Milan 127.000
The Football Association Manchester City 125.500
The Football Association Arsenal 119.000
Royal Spanish Football Federation Barcelona 113.250
Royal Spanish Football Federation Atlético Madrid 104.750
Pot 2
Team Notes Coeff.
German Football Association Borussia Dortmund 100.750
Italian Football Federation Roma 97.750
Portuguese Football Federation Sporting CP 84.000
The Football Association Aston Villa[EL] 83.000
Portuguese Football Federation Porto 80.750
The Football Association Manchester United 76.500
Royal Belgian Football Association Club Brugge 75.250
Royal Spanish Football Federation Real Betis 74.500
Royal Dutch Football Association PSV Eindhoven 71.250
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More information Team, Notes ...
Pot 3
Team Notes Coeff.
Royal Dutch Football Association Feyenoord 71.000
French Football Federation Lille 68.750
Norwegian Football Federation Bodø/Glimt[LP] 64.000
Italian Football Federation Napoli 63.000
German Football Association RB Leipzig 61.000
Royal Spanish Football Federation Villarreal 59.000
Turkish Football Federation Fenerbahçe[LP] 57.750
Ukrainian Association of Football Shakhtar Donetsk 56.250
Turkish Football Federation Galatasaray 53.500
Pot 4
Team Notes Coeff.
Football Association of the Czech Republic Slavia Prague 44.000
Slovak Football Association Slovan Bratislava[CH] 36.000
German Football Association VfB Stuttgart 27.500
Hellenic Football Federation AEK Athens[CH] 24.000
Austrian Football Association LASK[CH] 21.000
Italian Football Federation Como 19.989
French Football Federation Lens 16.699
Norwegian Football Federation Viking[CH] 8.247
Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan Sabah[CH] 6.000
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Notes

  1. TH Champions League title holders (automatic top seed of pot 1)
  2. EL Europa League title holders
  3. CH Winners of the play-off round (Champions Path)
  4. LP Winners of the play-off round (League Path)

Draw

The draw for the league phase will be held on 27 August 2026.[6]

More information Club, Pot 1 opponents ...
League phase opponents by club
Club Pot 1 opponents Pot 2 opponents Pot 3 opponents Pot 4 opponents
Home Away Home Away Home Away Home Away
France Paris Saint-Germain Barcelona Manchester City Roma Aston Villa Galatasaray Villarreal Slovan Bratislava Como
Germany Bayern Munich Atlético Madrid
Spain Real Madrid Inter Milan Arsenal PSV Eindhoven Roma RB Leipzig Shakhtar Donetsk LASK AEK Athens
England Liverpool Atlético Madrid Inter Milan Porto Club Brugge Villarreal Fenerbahçe Lens LASK
Italy Inter Milan Liverpool Real Madrid Club Brugge Borussia Dortmund Shakhtar Donetsk Feyenoord VfB Stuttgart Slovan Bratislava
England Manchester City Paris Saint-Germain Barcelona Sporting CP Porto Napoli RB Leipzig AEK Athens Lens
England Arsenal Real Madrid
Spain Barcelona Manchester City Paris Saint-Germain Aston Villa Sporting CP Feyenoord Galatasaray Como Sabah
Spain Atlético Madrid Bayern Munich Liverpool Manchester United PSV Eindhoven Fenerbahçe Bodø/Glimt Viking VfB Stuttgart
Germany Borussia Dortmund Inter Milan
Italy Roma Real Madrid Paris Saint-Germain
Portugal Sporting CP Barcelona Manchester City
England Aston Villa Paris Saint-Germain Barcelona
Portugal Porto Manchester City Liverpool
England Manchester United Atlético Madrid
Belgium Club Brugge Liverpool Inter Milan
Spain Real Betis
Netherlands PSV Eindhoven Atlético Madrid Real Madrid
Netherlands Feyenoord Inter Milan Barcelona
France Lille
Norway Bodø/Glimt Atlético Madrid
Italy Napoli Manchester City
Germany RB Leipzig Manchester City Real Madrid
Spain Villarreal Paris Saint-Germain Liverpool
Turkey Fenerbahçe Liverpool Atlético Madrid
Ukraine Shakhtar Donetsk Real Madrid Inter Milan
Turkey Galatasaray Barcelona Paris Saint-Germain
Czech Republic Slavia Prague
Slovakia Slovan Bratislava Inter Milan Paris Saint-Germain
Germany VfB Stuttgart Atlético Madrid Inter Milan
Greece AEK Athens Real Madrid Manchester City
Austria LASK Liverpool Real Madrid
Italy Como Paris Saint-Germain Barcelona
France Lens Manchester City Liverpool
Norway Viking Atlético Madrid
Azerbaijan Sabah Barcelona
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League phase table

More information Pos, Team ...
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 France Paris Saint-Germain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to round of 16 (seeded)
2 England Arsenal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Spain Atlético Madrid 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Germany Bayern Munich 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Spain Real Madrid 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Spain Barcelona 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 Italy Inter Milan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 England Manchester City 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 Germany Borussia Dortmund 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout phase play-offs (seeded)
10 England Manchester United 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 England Liverpool 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 Turkey Galatasaray 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 Netherlands PSV Eindhoven 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
14 Belgium Club Brugge 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
15 Germany RB Leipzig 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 England Aston Villa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
17 Netherlands Feyenoord 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout phase play-offs (unseeded)
18 Ukraine Shakhtar Donetsk 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
19 Spain Real Betis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
20 France Lens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
21 Czech Republic Slavia Prague 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22 Italy Napoli 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
23 France Lille 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
24 Italy Roma 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
25 Spain Villarreal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
26 Portugal Sporting CP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
27 Portugal Porto 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
28 Germany VfB Stuttgart 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
29 Italy Como 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
30 Greece AEK Athens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 Austria LASK 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
32 Norway Viking 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
33 Slovakia Slovan Bratislava 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
34 Azerbaijan Sabah 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
35 Turkey Fenerbahçe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
36 Norway Bodø/Glimt 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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First match(es) will be played: 8 September 2026. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: League phase tiebreakers

Results summary




Matches

The fixture list will be announced on (TBA) August 2026. This will be to ensure no calendar clashes with teams in Europa League and Conference League playing in the same cities.

In principle, each team will not play more than two home matches or two away matches in a row, and will play one home match and one away match across both the first and last two matchdays. The matches will be played on 8–10 September (exclusive week), 13–14 October, 20–21 October, 3–4 November, 24–25 November and 8–9 December 2026, 19–20 January and 27 January 2027. All matches will be played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, except for the competition's exclusive week, which also includes Thursday fixtures. The scheduled kick-off times are 18:45 (two matches on each day) and 21:00 (remaining matches) CET/CEST. The only exception is the final matchday, where all fixtures will be played simultaneously at 21:00.[7]

Times are CET or CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Matchday 1



Notes

  1. [1]
    CEST (UTC+2) for dates up to 21 October 2026 (matchdays 1–3), and CET (UTC+1) for dates thereafter (matchdays 4–8).

References

External links

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