UCL draw: PSG face Barca, Real Madrid meet Arsenal in league phase

The 36 teams taking part in the 2026-27 Champions League learned their opponents for the league phase during Thursday's draw in Monaco. The tournament is entering its third season using the revamped "Swiss model" in which all the clubs are grouped together and each side plays eight different teams in the opening round. See all the matchups below.

👉 Jump to: Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4
👉 More: How it all works | Key dates

Pot 1

Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid

Paris Saint-Germain 🇫🇷

Bayern Munich 🇩🇪

Real Madrid 🇪🇸

Liverpool 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Inter Milan 🇮🇹

Manchester City 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Arsenal 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Barcelona 🇪🇸

Atletico Madrid 🇪🇸

Paris Saint-Germain, the two-time defending champions, have a glamorous match against Barcelona, the team that many have tipped as the biggest threat to the French outfit's three-dream this season.

Meanwhile, Arsenal's clash with Real Madrid will see Vinicius Junior head to the Emirates Stadium after he was strongly linked with a move to the Gunners before eventually extending his contract with Los Blancos this summer.

Pot 2

Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting CP, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis, PSV

Borussia Dortmund 🇩🇪

Roma 🇮🇹

Sporting CP 🇵🇹

Aston Villa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Porto 🇵🇹

Manchester United 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Club Brugge 🇧🇪

Real Betis 🇪🇸

PSV 🇳🇱

In addition to a showpiece meeting with old European rival Bayern Munich at Old Trafford, Manchester United have a quartet of tricky away fixtures in the league phase.

The Red Devils were unfortunate to draw Italian newcomers Como, who are on the rise under Cesc Fabregas and will fancy themselves to cause a few upsets in their tournament debut this season.

Pot 3

Feyenoord, Lille, Bodo/Glimt, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Fenerbahce, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray

Feyenoord 🇳🇱

Lille 🇫🇷

Bodo/Glimt 🇳🇴

Napoli 🇮🇹

RB Leipzig 🇩🇪

Villarreal 🇪🇸

Fenerbahce 🇹🇷

Shakhtar Donetsk 🇺🇦

Galatasaray 🇹🇷

Bodo/Glimt, last season's Champions League darlings who made an inspiring run to the round of 16, will have many more eyes on them as they look to repeat the feat.

Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund will travel north of the Arctic Circle to take on the Norwegian club this season.

Pot 4

Slavia Prague, Slovan Bratislava, Stuttgart, AEK Athens, LASK, Como, Lens, Viking, Sabah

Slavia Prague 🇨🇿

Slovan Bratislava 🇸🇰

Stuttgart 🇩🇪

AEK Athens 🇬🇷

LASK 🇦🇹

Como 🇮🇹

Lens 🇫🇷

Viking FK 🇳🇴

Sabah 🇦🇿

In addition to the aforementioned Como, Sabah (Azerbaijan), Viking (Norway), and LASK (Austria) will all be making their respective debuts in the Champions League proper this season.

The latter qualified for the league phase after a stunning comeback win over Scottish giants Celtic, where they overturned a 4-0 aggregate deficit in the second leg of their playoff tie.

How it works

The 36 teams that reached the Champions League - 29 automatic qualifiers, seven via the playoffs that concluded this week - were split into four pots of nine based on their UEFA coefficient rankings. Pot 1 contains the top-ranked teams - holders Paris Saint-Germain and last season's finalists Arsenal, for example - while Pot 4 houses the lowest-ranked squads.

The teams were drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots to comprise their eight-match slate for the opening phase of the tournament. Every team will play four matches at home and four away matches.

Clubs from the same country couldn't be drawn against one another.

After the final round of league-phase matches, the top eight teams in the table advance straight to the round of 16. The clubs that finish ninth through 24th head to the knockout playoff round, where they're paired off to play two-legged ties to determine who else advances to the last 16.

The sides that finish 25th or lower in the league phase are eliminated from the competition and, unlike under the old tournament format, don't get parachuted into the Europa League.

Key dates

This season's Champions League, the 72nd edition of Europe's elite club competition, begins with Matchday 1 on Sept. 8.

The league phase concludes Jan. 27, when all 18 matches will be played at the same time. The tournament culminates with the final June 5 at the Metropolitano in Madrid, Spain.

Matchday 1: Sept. 8-10
Matchday 2: Oct. 13-14
Matchday 3: Oct. 20-21
Matchday 4: Nov. 3-4
Matchday 5: Nov. 24-25
Matchday 6: Dec. 8-9
Matchday 7: Jan. 19-20
Matchday 8: Jan. 27
KO playoffs: Feb. 16-17 and Feb. 23-24
Round of 16: March 9-10 and March 16-17
Quarterfinals: April 6-7 and April 13-14
Semifinals: April 27-28 and May 4-5
Final: June 5

The fixture list with specific match dates and kickoff times for the league phase will be revealed by UEFA on Saturday, Aug. 29.