2026-27 Champions League draw guide: schedule, where to watch it, and Barça's possible opponents
The maximum European club competition kicks off a new edition with the League phase
BarcelonaThe Champions League returns. This Thursday, the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco will host the draw for the league phase of the top European club competition. From 6:00 PM onwards, the main teams from the Old Continent will begin to discover the path to the final on June 5th at the Metropolitano stadium (Madrid). Up to 36 teams will fight for a dream: to defeat PSG – the reigning champion of the last two editions – and become the best team in Europe.
Barça kicks off a new exciting season with the Champions League as the main objective. The 'blaugranes' want to improve on last year's record, where they fell in the quarterfinals against Atlético de Madrid, and are aware of the importance of having a good initial phase to then have more accessible rivals in the knockout stages.
How does the Champions League format work?
The format will be the same as in previous editions; each team will face eight rivals (four at home and four away) to earn points, which will be accumulated in a general standings that includes all clubs. The top eight classified teams will directly access the round of 16, while those from ninth to twenty-fourth will play aplay-offs preliminary round with a double header. In addition, the best-ranked teams will play the return leg of the knockout stages at home.
For this first draw, the teams will be divided into four pots and Barça will face two teams from each of the pots, one at the Camp Nou and the other away. Clubs will not be able to face teams from their own country and Real Madrid will not be able to play at Liverpool's ground. UEFA has implemented this new rule to prevent the duel between Spaniards and English from being repeated at Anfield for the third consecutive year.
Pot 1: Barça, Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid, Bayern Munich, PSG, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Inter Milan.
Pot 2: Betis, Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting CP, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Bruges and PSV.
Pot 3: Villarreal, Feyenoord, Lille, Naples, Leipzig, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray, Bodo/Glimt, Fenerbahçe.
Pot 4: Slavia Prague, Stuttgart, LASK, Como, Lens, Sabah, Viking,Slovan Bratislava, AEK Athens.
Time and place of the draw
The draw will begin at 6:00 PM at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
Where to watch the draw today (television)?
The draw can be followed live on UEFA's channels (UEFA.com and UEFA.tv), in addition to Movistar Liga de Campeones and Esport3.
