Champions League 2026-27 Draw: Date, Qualified Teams, and Format
Anushe Engineer
The Champions League 2026-27 group stage draw takes place on August 27 in Monaco, featuring 36 teams. PSG, champions for two consecutive seasons, are chasing a historic third straight title.
The 2026-2027 UEFA Champions League is about to kick off with the group stage draw on Thursday, marking the start of the race to crown a new European football champion.
Paris Saint-Germain, back-to-back winners, are aiming for an unprecedented third consecutive title. Meanwhile, heavyweights such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Bayern Munich are all determined to dethrone the French champions.
Draw Timing and Venue
The group stage draw will be held at 18:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on August 27 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
Group Stage Format
The third season under the new format will feature 36 teams. Of these, 29 teams qualify directly based on their domestic league positions. The remaining seven spots are determined via playoffs, which began earlier this month and will conclude less than 24 hours before the draw.
Bodo/Glimt, LASK, and Sabah are the latest teams to secure their places. The other eight teams will compete for the final four spots on Wednesday.
Qualified Teams List
Arsenal, Aston Villa, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Bodo/Glimt, Borussia Dortmund, Club Brugge, Como, Feyenoord, Galatasaray, Inter Milan, LASK, RB Leipzig, Liverpool, LOSC Lille, Manchester City, Manchester United, Napoli, Paris Saint-Germain, PSV Eindhoven, RC Lens, Real Betis, Real Madrid, AS Roma, FC Porto, Sabah FK, Shakhtar Donetsk, Slavia Prague, Sporting CP, VfB Stuttgart, Villarreal.
Seedings
Under the new format, each team will play eight matches against eight different opponents – two from each seeding pot. This includes four home games and four away games.
Pot 1: PSG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid
Pot 2: Aston Villa, Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting, Porto, Club Brugge, PSV Eindhoven, Real Betis
Pot 3: Feyenoord, Lille, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray, Bodo/Glimt, (League Path playoff winner)
Pot 4: Slavia Prague, VfB Stuttgart, LASK, Como, Lens, Sabah, (three Champions Path playoff winners)
Group Stage and Knockout Schedule
Group Stage:
- Matchday 1: 8-10 September
- Matchday 2: 13-14 October
- Matchday 3: 20-21 October
- Matchday 4: 3-4 November
- Matchday 5: 24-25 November
- Matchday 6: 8-9 December
- Matchday 7: 19-20 January
- Matchday 8: 27 January
Knockout Phase:
- Play-offs: 16, 17 and 23, 24 February
- Round of 16: 9, 10 and 16, 17 March
- Quarter-finals: 6, 7 and 13, 14 April
- Semi-finals: 27, 28 April and 4, 5 May
- Final: 5 June
Final Venue
The final of the upcoming season will take place at the Estadio Metropolitano, home of Atletico Madrid.
How PSG Won Last Season
The French champions held their nerve in a tense final to retain their title, beating Arsenal 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw over 120 minutes at the Puskas Arena in Budapest.
Arsenal defender Gabriel missed the decisive spot-kick, allowing PSG to become the first club to successfully defend the title since Real Madrid's hat-trick between 2016 and 2018.
In early August, PSG added the UEFA Super Cup for the second straight year, defeating Aston Villa 2-1 with a second-half goal from Desire Doue. The 61st-minute strike, set up by Ousmane Dembele, was initially disallowed for offside but was awarded after a VAR review, as Matty Cash was deemed to have kept the attacker onside.
