29 Clubs Are Already In: Every Team Confirmed for the 2026/27 Champions League
With the playoff round's second legs still to come, 29 of the 36 clubs in the 2026/27 Champions League league phase are already locked in. Here's the full picture, pot by pot, ahead of the August 27 draw in Monaco.
Pot 1: The Defending Contenders
Pot 1 is made up of the reigning champions plus the highest-ranked clubs by UEFA coefficient: PSG, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Bayern Munich and Inter.
It's a pot loaded with recent winners and Ballon d'Or talent — PSG chasing a third straight title, and Barcelona freshly reinforced by the Rodri signing.
Pot 2: Five Premier League Clubs in the League Phase
Pot 2 features Manchester United, Aston Villa, Roma, Real Betis, Borussia Dortmund, Sporting CP, Porto and Club Brugge — headlined by Manchester United and Aston Villa, meaning England sends five automatic qualifiers into the league phase this season alongside Pot 1's Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool.
Aston Villa's return to the Champions League comes on the back of their Europa League triumph in May — a remarkable turnaround for a club playing this format for the first time.
Pots 3 and 4: Still Two Spots Short
Pot 3 currently holds seven confirmed clubs — Feyenoord, Lille, RB Leipzig, Napoli, Villarreal, Galatasaray and Shakhtar Donetsk — with two more places to be filled by playoff winners.
Pot 4 has just four names locked in so far: Slavia Prague, Stuttgart, Como and Lens. The other five slots belong to whichever five playoff ties are still to be decided when the round finishes on August 26.
Seven Spots Left, One Day of Margin
The seven playoff ties wrap up on August 25-26, meaning the full 36-club field — and the final shape of Pots 3 and 4 — is only locked in a single day before the league phase draw on August 27 in Monaco.
Once the draw sets each club's eight opponents, Matchday 1 kicks off September 8.