When is the Champions League draw and how does it work?
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The league phase draw for the 2026/27 Champions League will take place on Thursday in Monaco and here is everything you need to know before it gets started.How does the league phase draw work?A total of 36 teams will enter the competition at this stage after 29 qualified at the end of last season. Half of the eight league-phase matches are at home, with the other half away.Got Sky?
Watch Premier League games LIVE on your phone📱Not got Sky? Who is in each pot?While seven places via qualifiers are yet to be determined, 29 teams have been confirmed and their pots have been allocated and it is based on UEFA's club coefficient rankings, which reflects results in European competitions across a five-year period ending in 2025/26.
The remaining teams - including Celtic if they beat LASK - will then go into Pot 4.Pot 1PSGBayern MunichReal MadridLiverpoolInter MilanManchester CityArsenalBarcelonaAtletico MadridPot 2Aston VillaManchester UnitedBorussia DortmundRomaSportingPortoClub BruggePSV EindhovenReal BetisPot 3FeyenoordLilleNapoliRB LeipzigVillarrealShakhtar DonetskGalatasarayWinner of Fenerbahce vs LyonPot 3 or 4Winner of NEC Nijmegen vs Bodo/GlimtWinner of Dinamo Zagreb vs VikingWinner of Celtic vs LASKSlavia PraguePot 4Winner of Slovan Bratislava vs CeljeVfB StuttgartWinner of Levski Sofia vs AEK AthensComoLensWinner of Hapoel Be'er Sheva vs SabahWho qualifies for the knockout rounds?The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the round of 16, while teams finishing 25th or lower are eliminated and do not drop into the Europa League.The teams finishing in ninth to 24th place compete in a two-legged knockout-phase play-off. Teams finishing between ninth and 16th are seeded, meaning they will face a team in 17th-24th with the return leg at home.The eight clubs who win their knockout-phase play-off each meet one of the seeded top-eight finishers in the league-phase table for a place in the quarter-finals.Champions League league-phase match dates and scheduleMatchday 1: September 8-10Matchday 2: October 13/14Matchday 3: October 20/21Matchday 4: November 3/4Matchday 5: November 24/25Matchday 6: December 8/9Matchday 7: January 19/20Matchday 8: January 27Champions League knockout-phase match dates and scheduleThe draw for the two-legged knockout-phase play-offs is yet to be determined.Knockout phase play-offs: February 16/17 and 23/24Round of 16: March 9/10 and 16/17Quarter-finals: April 6/7 and 13/14Semi-finals: April 27/28 and May 4/5Final: June 5When are where is the final?The final will take place at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid, Spain, on June 5 2027.