MONACO, MONACO – AUGUST 27: General view of the UEFA Champions League trophy ahead of the draw at Grimaldi Forum on August 27, 2026 in Monaco, Monaco. (Photo by Francesco Scaccianoce – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
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A new edition of the Champions League came into clearer focus on Thursday with the tournament’s league phase draw.
The Champions League, widely considered the greatest international soccer club competition, will start on Sept. 8, with the first six rounds played through December. The league phase, which resumes in January, will conclude with the eighth and final round on Jan. 27.
The full schedule for each team will be revealed on Saturday.
The top eight teams in the final standings of the 36-team tournament qualify directly to the round of 16 in March. Teams placed ninth to 24th enter the knockout playoffs in February to decide the other eight teams in the round of 16. Teams placed 25th to 36th are eliminated.
Here’s what we learned from Thursday’s league phase draw.
PSG face a serious title defense test
Paris Saint-Germain could hardly have asked for a more challenging start to their attempt to defend the Champions League trophy. The French champions will host Barcelona and travel to face Manchester City, giving them two high-profile fixtures against teams with genuine European ambitions.
The meeting with Barcelona is particularly intriguing because PSG manager Luis Enrique once managed the Catalan giants. PSG have also enjoyed considerable success in recent trips to Barcelona, winning three straight matches there, including a 2-1 victory in last season’s league phase. Those wins have helped erase some of the painful memories of the infamous 6-1 defeat in 2017, the match remembered as the “Remontada.”
PSG’s schedule does not become much easier elsewhere. They will travel to Italy to face Como, coached by former Barcelona and Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas. As a result, PSG will have little room for complacency if they want to finish near the top of the league phase.
Traditional heavyweights face off
Last season’s finalists Arsenal also face an extremely demanding schedule. They will meet 15-time champions Real Madrid as well as German powerhouses Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. Those games will provide an early indication of whether Arsenal can go one step further after reaching last season’s final.
There are also several reunions and rematches to look forward to. Manchester United return to the Champions League after a two-year absence and will face Bayern Munich, reviving memories of the famous 1999 final, when United produced a dramatic comeback to win the trophy.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, will face another familiar figure when they play Inter Milan. Jose Mourinho is back at Madrid this season and will come up against the club he guided to Champions League glory in 2010. Madrid will also travel to London twice, facing Arsenal and Shakhtar Donetsk, with the Ukrainians playing their home matches at away given the war with Russia.
Four clubs to make debut
Four newcomers will debut in this Champions League edition: Como (Italy), LASK (Austria), Viking (Norway) and Sabah (Azerbaijan). Their inclusion adds another layer of unpredictability to the competition.
Como will host both PSG and Manchester United at their picturesque lakeside stadium, while Sabah will welcome Dortmund, Napoli and Slavia Prague.
Sabah manager Valdas Dambrauskas has gotten plenty of attention for his strange soccer origin story. The money he won as a contestant on TV quiz show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” in his native Lithuania funded his trip to take coaching courses in England.
Another first this season will be an African coach taking his team into the league phase. Former Manchester City and Barcelona star Yaya Toure guided Slovakian champion Slovan Bratislava through the qualifying playoffs to reach the tournament.