Champions League 2026/27 Playoff Round Draw: The Seven Ties Before the League Phase
UEFA held the draw for the 2026/27 Champions League playoff round on Monday, August 3, in Nyon — the last obstacle before the 36-club league phase. Fourteen clubs, seven two-legged ties, and only seven spots up for grabs.
Two Paths, Seven Tickets Left
The playoff round is split into two separate draws, same as it's been since the 2024/25 reform. The Champions Path pools ten clubs — mostly domestic champions from lower-ranked federations who fell short earlier in qualifying. The League Path is smaller, just four clubs, made up of runners-up and third-place finishers from leagues that get more than one Champions League berth.
Winners of the five Champions Path ties and two League Path ties fill the last seven of the 36 league-phase places, joining the 29 clubs that already secured their spot directly. Whoever loses drops into the Europa League league phase instead — not eliminated from Europe entirely, just demoted a tier.
The Seven Pairings
One tie is already fully set: Celtic face LASK, with both clubs having gone straight through to the playoff round without needing to survive the third qualifying round first.
Everywhere else, at least one side is still 'TBD' — the third qualifying round is still being played out this week, with the final pairings only locking into place in the days before the playoff first legs.
Champions Path: Levski Sofia or Kairat Almaty vs. AEK Athens; Celtic vs. LASK; Dinamo Zagreb or Žalgiris vs. Viking; Mjällby or Slovan Bratislava vs. Ararat-Armenia or Celje; Hapoel Be’er-Sheva or Red Star Belgrade vs. Aarhus or Sabah.
League Path: Fenerbahçe or Sturm Graz vs. Sparta Prague or Lyon; Olympiacos or NEC Nijmegen vs. Union Saint-Gilloise or Bodø/Glimt.
Storylines Worth Watching
Union Saint-Gilloise is the name to know if you don’t already: the Brussels club won its first Belgian league title in 90 years in May 2025, ending one of the longest championship droughts in European football. A playoff win would send them into the Champions League league phase for the first time in the club’s modern history.
Olympiacos already has continental pedigree fresh in memory — the Greek club beat Fiorentina in extra time to win the 2024 Europa Conference League, the first European trophy for any Greek team. A step up to Champions League level is the obvious next target.
Red Star Belgrade, one of only two clubs from the former Yugoslavia to win the old European Cup (1991), are looking to get back to the competition’s top table after slipping to a qualifying route. Lyon and Fenerbahçe, both regulars in Europe’s premier competitions in the 2010s, are fighting to avoid a second straight season on the outside looking in.
What's Next
First legs are played August 18-19, with the return legs on August 25-26. The seven winners join the other 29 clubs the very next day, when the league phase draw is held in Monaco on August 27 — setting the fixture list for Matchday 1, which kicks off September 8.
Whoever survives the next three weeks will find out their eight league-phase opponents in that draw — and you'll be able to check every fixture as soon as it's confirmed.