UEFA Champions League 2026-27 group stage draw: 36 clubs to learn their opponents Thursday in Monaco

The group stage draw for the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League takes place Thursday, August 27 at 6:00 p.m. at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 36 qualified clubs will learn the names of their eight opponents for this first phase of the competition.

Software to manage format complexity

Faced with the complexity of the new format, automated software assists the manual draw: as soon as a ball is drawn, the computer instantly determines the eight opponents for the club in question. Several restrictions govern the process: the eight opponents assigned to each club are all different, no match-up between two teams from the same country is possible, and each team can face no more than two representatives from the same league.

Single league format retained

The competition retains the single league format introduced two years ago. Each club faces eight different opponents — four home matches, four away — with two opponents from each pot, including their own.

The four pots

The 36 qualified teams are divided into four pots defined according to their UEFA coefficient.

Pot 1: Paris-SG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, FC Barcelona, Atlético Madrid.

Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund, AS Roma, Sporting CP, Aston Villa, FC Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis, PSV Eindhoven.

Pot 3: Feyenoord, Lille, Bodö/Glimt, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Fenerbahçe, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray.

Pot 4: Slavia Prague, Slovan Bratislava, VfB Stuttgart, AEK Athens, LASK Linz, Como, Lens, Viking Stavanger, Sabah FC.