Champions League 2026/27 draw: pots, format and rules explained | OneFootball

The Champions League is here. The league phase draw in Monaco on Thursday at 18:00, MLC, launches the new campaign, with the pots set after the final play-off round.

According to as.com, PSG, Bayern, City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are threats the five Spanish sides will want to miss. Madrid, Barça and Atlético are in pot one, Betis in pot two, Villarreal in pot three.

Pot one features PSG, Madrid, City, Bayern, Liverpool, Inter, Chelsea, Atlético and Barcelona. Pot two contains Dortmund, Roma, Sporting CP, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Betis and PSV.

Pot three includes Feyenoord, Lille, Lyon, Bodo Glimt, Napoli, Leipzig, Villarreal, Shakhtar and Galatasaray. Pot four has Dinamo Zagreb, Celtic, Slavia Prague, Slovan Bratislava, Stuttgart, AEK Athens, Como, Lens and AGF.

As last season, the competition uses a league format with 36 participants. Each club plays eight matches, four at home and four away. A computerised draw assigns two opponents from each pot, including a team’s own pot.

Clubs from the same nation will not face each other, and there is a limit of two opponents per league. The calibre in pots two and three may define difficulty.

Pot four looks kinder despite Stuttgart and Como, with several minnows involved such as Slavia Prague. Spain will have five entrants and England another five, the latter boosted by Aston Villa’s Europa League triumph last season. The cast feels loaded across Europe.

Source: as.com

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”