Champions League Draw: English Clubs Aim to Challenge PSG
The League Phase is back. Five English clubs are lining up with one shared target: knock Paris Saint-Germain off their perch.
PSG, the back-to-back European champions and conquerors of Arsenal on penalties in last season’s final, arrive in Monaco as the team everyone wants to avoid and the one everyone wants to beat. They have strengthened again over the summer and, on paper, remain the side to beat as they chase a third straight Champions League crown.
England, though, has never looked better armed.
Arsenal return as Premier League champions, still nursing the scars of that shootout defeat but widely viewed as the most credible threat to PSG’s dominance. Manchester City, runners-up domestically and serial contenders in Europe, are back in the mix. Manchester United have fought their way to the top table again. Liverpool are here from fifth place, dangerous as ever in continental competition. Aston Villa, Europa League holders and fourth in the league last season, complete a formidable English contingent.
The League Phase draw for the 2026/27 Champions League takes centre stage this afternoon at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, with 36 clubs waiting to learn their fate.
When and where the draw happens
The ceremony starts today, Thursday, August 27, 2026, from 5pm BST on the Riviera. The Grimaldi Forum has become the traditional stage for European football’s big reveal, and it will be packed with club executives, coaches and players craning their necks towards the big screens as the balls are opened.
Arsenal, still chasing that final step after last season’s heartbreak, will be watching closely. So will the rest of England’s challengers, all hoping for a pathway that keeps them clear of early chaos.
How to watch it unfold
In the UK, TNT Sports 1 will show the draw live, with coverage beginning at 5pm BST and the draw starting shortly afterwards.
TNT Sports subscribers can stream it via the HBO Max app and website. UEFA.com and the TNT Sports YouTube channel will also carry the draw live at no cost, while Standard Sport will run a live blog for those who prefer every twist and turn in real time.
The pots: who sits where
This is the first big reveal of the afternoon: where each club sits in the seeding order.
All 36 qualified teams are split into four pots of nine, based on UEFA’s club coefficients at the start of the season. Those pots were locked in on Wednesday night after the final play-off ties.
Pot 1 is stacked with heavyweights and, crucially, all five of the last decade’s dominant forces: Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid.
Pot 2 has the feel of a danger zone – full of clubs no one really wants as an “unseeded” opponent: Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting CP, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis, PSV Eindhoven.
Pot 3 is where ambitious sides and awkward away days live: Feyenoord, Lille, Bodo/Glimt, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Fenerbahce, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray.
Pot 4 contains the outsiders, the stories waiting to happen, and the potential banana skins: Slavia Prague, Slovan Bratislava, Stuttgart, AEK Athens, LASK, Como, Lens, Viking, Sabah.
For Manchester United, back “at Europe’s top table” as the photos will say, the intrigue lies in which of the giants they will be paired with. For Aston Villa, now stepping up from Europa League glory to Champions League ambition, Pot 2 status underlines just how far they have come.
How the new Champions League format works
This is not the old group stage. The League Phase has changed the landscape.
Each team will play eight matches, but they will not be drawn into traditional four-team groups or face three opponents home and away. Instead, every club will meet eight different opponents once each – four at home, four away.
The four seeding pots are crucial. From those pots, every team is drawn to face:
- Two opponents from Pot 1
- Two from Pot 2
- Two from Pot 3
- Two from Pot 4
One of those fixtures against each pot will be at home, the other away. That guarantees a spread of opposition: no easy rides, no soft groups, no hiding.
The draw in Monaco will map out those eight fixtures for all 36 clubs, shaping the season’s narrative before a ball is kicked.
Key dates for the League Phase
Once the draw is done, attention switches quickly to the calendar. The League Phase is spread across the campaign, and the rhythm is unforgiving:
- Matchday 1: September 8-10, 2026
- Matchday 2: October 13/14, 2026
- Matchday 3: October 20/21, 2026
- Matchday 4: November 3/4, 2026
- Matchday 5: November 24/25, 2026
- Matchday 6: December 8/9, 2026
- Matchday 7: January 19/20, 2026
- Matchday 8: January 27, 2026
Eight games to make a statement, secure seeding for the knockouts and, for the English clubs, prove they can wrest control of Europe away from Paris.
PSG arrive as favourites. Arsenal look ready to challenge. Barcelona and a Jose Mourinho-led Real Madrid lurk ominously in the background. Bayern, City, Liverpool, Inter – all carry serious weight.
By tonight, everyone will know their route. Then the real question begins: who can live with the standard PSG have set, and who is finally ready to rip the crown from their hands?
