Champions League 2026/27 Draw: Full Pots, Start Time and Why There Are No More Groups
The 2026/27 Champions League league phase draw goes live today, August 27, in Monaco — the moment that turns 36 confirmed clubs into a full 144-match fixture list. Here's the draw time, how to watch, the complete pots, and why you won't hear anyone say 'Group A' this season.
Why There Are No 'Groups' Anymore
If you're searching for the 2026/27 Champions League groups, here's the short answer: they don't exist anymore. Since the 2024/25 season, UEFA scrapped the classic format of eight groups of four teams in favor of a single 36-club standings table called the 'league phase.'
Every club still plays eight matches before the knockout rounds, but instead of facing the same three rivals in a mini-group, each team draws two opponents from each of four pots — eight different opponents in total, four at home and four away. It's the same draw-day tension, just with one giant table instead of nine small groups.
The Draw: Date, Time and How to Watch
The league phase draw takes place today, Thursday, August 27, at 18:00 CET (5:00pm BST) at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. It's free to watch live on UEFA.com and the UEFA.tv app, with TNT Sports 1 covering it in the UK and HBO Max in the United States.
Draw software (used for the past two seasons) assigns each of the 36 clubs its eight opponents in a matter of minutes, respecting two rules: two opponents from each pot, and no two clubs from the same country can meet in the league phase.
All Four Pots, Fully Confirmed
Pot 1: PSG (holders), Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Inter Milan.
Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United, Roma, Sporting CP, Aston Villa, Porto, Club Brugge, Real Betis, PSV Eindhoven.
Pot 3: Feyenoord, Lille, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Galatasaray, Shakhtar Donetsk, Fenerbahçe, Bodø/Glimt.
Pot 4: Slavia Prague, Stuttgart, Como, Lens, Slovan Bratislava, AEK Athens, LASK, Viking, Sabah — the last five confirmed only after the playoff round finished on August 26.
What Happens After Tonight's Draw
Once the fixture list is out, there's barely time to breathe: Matchday 1 kicks off just twelve days later, on September 8. The league phase then runs through eight matchdays into late January.
At the end of it, the top 8 in the table go straight to the round of 16, 9th-24th play a knockout play-off round for the remaining spots, and the bottom 12 are out of Europe entirely.