Champions League: BVB relish these league-phase opponents | OneFootball

It had everything at the draw in Monaco. The four home and four away opponents for the 2026/27 season are now known. UEFA will announce the exact match dates by Saturday. On Thursday, former star strikers Thierry Henry and David Villa first drew the opponents for the total of 36 participants.

BVB already faced three of their eight opponents last year: at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, BVB will once again take on Inter Milan and Villarreal CF – although these exact two fixtures will no longer be possible next year – and they will also meet Norway’s FK Bodø/Glimt again, though away this season. The other home opponents are Real Betis from Seville and AEK Athens – both first-time meetings! Away from home, Borussia will face Arsenal, Aston Villa and Sabah FK in Azerbaijan, in addition to Bodø/Glimt.

The home opponents

Inter MilanThe 21-time Italian champions reached the Champions League final twice in the past four seasons. Inter have won the trophy three times (most recently in 2010), but were surprisingly knocked out in the round of 16 last season by Bodø/Glimt, who therefore shocked not only BVB. BVB lost the direct encounter with Inter 0-2. There will be a reunion with Manuel Akanji and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Real BetisReal Betis Balompié, or Real Betis for short, or simply Betis – that’s what Spain’s 1935 champions and three-time cup winners are called. Their greatest international success was reaching the UEFA Conference League final in 2025. Former Borussia player Marc Bartra (pictured) played his part in helping the team finish fifth in La Liga last season and thus qualify for Europe’s premier competition for only the second time in the club’s history. BVB have never previously faced Betis in a competitive match.

Villarreal CFThe second Spanish opponent – third place last season – comes from pot three, even though they made a name for themselves internationally by winning the UEFA Europa League in 2021 and reaching the UEFA Champions League semi-finals the following year. In last season’s league phase, however, the “Yellow Submarine” finished only 35th with just one point. At SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, BVB won 4-0.

AEK AthensBorussia Dortmund have signed two Greeks in Konstantinos Karetsas and Giannis Konstantelias – and will now face the 14-time Greek champions for the first time. AEK beat Levski Sofia in the play-offs and qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the eighth time. The best-known player in the AEK squad in Germany is former Frankfurt striker Luka Jović.

The away opponents

ArsenalBVB beat the Gunners in the Emirates Cup during last pre-season. The most recent of their eight Champions League meetings (record: three wins, one draw, four defeats) dates back 12 years. Arsenal, with former Dortmund player and World Cup winner Mikel Merino (pictured), recently celebrated their first English league title since 2004 (their 14th overall) and were the only (!) team in Europe’s premier competition last season not to lose a single match (including eight wins in the league phase). Nevertheless, the title went to Paris because PSG won the final on penalties.

Aston VillaFormer Borussia player Ian Maatsen wears the shirt of one of England’s oldest clubs, whom Borussia Dortmund will face for the first time in European competition. Aston Villa are a founding member of both the Football League (1888) and the Premier League (1992). Seven-time champions (most recently in 1981), seven-time cup winners (most recently in 1957). The club won the European Cup in 1982 and the UEFA Europa League in 2026 (3-0 vs. Freiburg).

FK Bodø/GlimtNorway’s champions of 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024 currently top the Eliteserien and are on the verge of their second appearance in the UEFA Champions League. The first was a remarkable run. After finishing 23rd in the league phase (including a 2-2 draw in Dortmund), the team beat Inter Milan 3-1 and 2-1 in the round-of-16 play-offs, then went out to Sporting CP from Lisbon in the round of 16 after winning the first leg 3-0 but losing 0-5 after extra time in the second. Matches are played at Aspmyra Stadion in front of 7,896 spectators on artificial turf. The club colours mean Borussia will have to play in their change kit.

Sabah FKAfter a 2-1 first-leg defeat in the play-offs against Hapoel Be’er Sheva, the club, founded in 2017 and crowned champions for the first time in 2026, came through with a 5-2 win after extra time despite falling behind twice. They are expected to play their international home matches at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, where BVB have also played before (against Qarabagh in 2010).

The advance sale for the first home match will take place next Tuesday, 1 September: as always, online from 12 noon in the ticket shop for Borussia Dortmund club members.

The results of the league-phase matches will go into one combined table of all 36 participants. The clubs in the top eight after eight matchdays will qualify directly for the knockout stage, which begins with the round of 16. For the teams in the bottom 12 places (25 to 36), the European campaign will end in late January. The teams placed 9th to 24th will determine eight more round-of-16 participants in the play-offs. Adjacent teams in the table will form a pair. The only thing then left to draw is whether, for example, the team in ninth will face the club in 23rd or 24th place (which then determines the opponent for the club in 10th place).

UEFA plans to announce the fixture list by Saturday, 29 August at the latest.

The league-phase match dates

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.