The Champions League league phase draw arrives on Thursday, August 27, and it will set the tone for one of the most unpredictable starts to the season. Thirty-six clubs will learn the eight opponents that shape their path through the expanded competition, with every matchup carrying real weight from the first whistle.
Paris Saint-Germain enter as the reigning champions after beating Arsenal in Budapest in May, so every rival in the draw will be watching closely for a chance to test the holders. With the newer league-phase format now fully established, the event feels less like a routine ceremony and more like the opening chapter of the campaign.
When the draw begins
The league phase draw is scheduled for Thursday, August 27, with the ceremony starting at 5 p.m. BST. For clubs, supporters, and broadcasters, that is the moment the road map for the autumn and winter starts to take shape.
How the new format changes everything
The old group stage has been replaced by a single 36-team league phase, and that shift has made the draw more layered and less predictable. Instead of being placed into a fixed group of four, each team receives eight different opponents, creating a schedule that feels closer to a league table mixed with a knockout-style variety.
That structure produces a unique fixture list for every club. No two teams receive the same exact sequence, which means strength of schedule can vary dramatically depending on how the draw unfolds.
The basic process is straightforward:
- Each club is assigned opponents from all four pots.
- Every team is drawn against eight different sides in total.
- No club can be paired with another team from the same country.
- The final result gives each side a one-off route through the league phase.
The teams in the four pots
The field is split into four pots based on European ranking, with the strongest sides concentrated in Pot 1 and the remaining clubs distributed below them. That setup helps balance the draw while still leaving plenty of room for difficult combinations.
Pot 1
- Paris Saint-Germain (France)
- Bayern Munich (Germany)
- Real Madrid (Spain)
- Liverpool (England)
- Inter Milan (Italy)
- Manchester City (England)
- Arsenal (England)
- Barcelona (Spain)
- Atletico Madrid (Spain)
Pot 2
- Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
- Roma (Italy)
- Sporting (Portugal)
- Aston Villa (England)
- Porto (Portugal)
- Manchester United (England)
- Club Brugge (Belgium)
- Real Betis (Spain)
- PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Pot 3
- Feyenoord (Netherlands)
- Lille (France)
- Bodo/Glimt (Norway)
- Napoli (Italy)
- RB Leipzig (Germany)
- Villarreal (Spain)
- Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
- Galatasaray (Turkey)
- Winner of Fenerbahce (Turkey) vs Lyon (France)
Pot 4
- Winner of Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) vs Viking (Norway)
- Winner of Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) vs Celje (Slovenia)
- Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
- VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
- LASK (Austria)
- Winner of Levski Sofia (Bulgaria) vs AEK Athens (Greece)
- Como (Italy)
- Lens (France)
- Sabah (Azerbaijan)
Why this draw matters so much
Because the league phase produces eight separate opponents rather than a familiar mini-group, the draw can tilt a team’s season before the first ball is kicked. A favorable set of fixtures can create momentum, protect squad energy, and build confidence. A brutal one can force managers into damage control before autumn is even over.
That is why Thursday’s reveal matters beyond the ceremony itself. It affects travel demands, rotation decisions, recovery planning, and even how clubs approach domestic matches in the weeks that follow.
In practical terms, the draw is not just about prestige. It is the first major test of strategy in a competition designed to make every fixture count.
