Arsenal, Liverpool and City headline Pot One as Champions League 2026/27 draw pots confirmed

UEFA has confirmed the pot allocations ahead of Thursday evening’s Champions League 2026/27 league phase draw in Nyon, with five Premier League clubs spread across the top two pots.

Champions Arsenal, who defeated PSG in last season’s final, take their place in Pot One alongside Liverpool and Manchester City. Liverpool only secured their spot by finishing fifth in the Premier League, with the division’s strong UEFA coefficient earning England an additional berth. City finished second in the league behind Arsenal. The three English clubs are joined in the top pot by PSG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

Manchester United and Aston Villa have both been placed in Pot Two. United sealed their return to the competition following an impressive late-season run under Michael Carrick, though their coefficient was not sufficient to keep them in the highest pot. Villa qualified via a fourth-place Premier League finish and their Europa League triumph, and are joined in Pot Two by Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Porto, Sporting CP, Club Brugge, Real Betis and PSV, among others.

Pot Three features Lille, Napoli, Galatasaray, Feyenoord, Leipzig and Villarreal, while Pot Four includes Stuttgart, Como, Lens and Viking.

In the draw itself, each of the 36 clubs will be drawn against two opponents from every pot — playing one at home and one away — producing eight fixtures in total during the league phase. Once those games are completed, all 36 sides will be ranked in a single table. The top eight advance automatically to the last 16, teams finishing ninth to 24th enter a playoff round, and anyone below 24th is eliminated.

There are already a handful of restrictions in place before the draw takes place. Arsenal cannot be drawn to face Inter Milan away, and Liverpool are barred from hosting Real Madrid at home under a new UEFA rule that prevents the same fixture from being played at the same venue in three consecutive seasons.