Monaco ceremony to set 2026-27 Champions League fixtures with computer assistance

The 2026-27 Champions League league-phase draw will take place in Monaco on Thursday, with a computer programme helping determine each club’s opponents and the venues for their matches.

All 36 participating clubs will discover their league-phase schedules at the ceremony, which includes a significant change from the traditional draw process. Although club officials and prominent football figures will be present, the fixtures will not be selected entirely by hand.

Paris Saint-Germain, winners of the competition in the past two editions, will be among the leading contenders to retain the trophy. They will be joined in the group of leading names by Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Manchester City, Barcelona and Arsenal.

The field has almost been completed following the play-off matches. The 36 teams will be divided into four pots according to their club coefficients.

Paris Saint-Germain are in Pot 1 alongside Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona and Atletico de Madrid.

Pot 2 contains Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting CP, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis and PSV Eindhoven.

Feyenoord, LOSC Lille, Bodø/Glimt, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk and Galatasaray make up Pot 3, together with the winner of the tie between Olympique Lyonnais and Fenerbahce.

Pot 4 includes Slavia Praha, VfB Stuttgart, LASK, Como 1907, RC Lens and Sabah FC. The remaining places will go to the winners of AEK Athens against Levski Sofia, Celje against Slovan Bratislava, and Viking FK against Dinamo Zagreb.

Once a club from Pot 1 has been drawn, the dedicated computer system will select its eight opponents in accordance with the competition rules. One of the principal restrictions is that clubs cannot face another team from the same country during the league phase.

The programme will also determine where the matches are played. Every team will have four home fixtures and four away fixtures. The draw will establish both the opponents and the order of the games, beginning with Pot 1 before moving through Pot 2, Pot 3 and finally Pot 4.

The computer-assisted format was also used in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 Champions League seasons.

Under the league-phase format, each club faces two opponents from each of the four pots. One of those matches against each pot is played at home, while the other is played away. Teams are also prevented from meeting another side from their own country.

Uefa introduced an additional restriction last season to increase the variety of potential fixtures. Under the rule, two clubs cannot play each other at the same stadium in three consecutive editions of the competition.

That means Liverpool and Real Madrid cannot meet at Anfield in this season’s competition, although they could still be drawn to play at Santiago Bernabeu. Inter Milan and Arsenal are likewise unable to face each other at San Siro during the upcoming campaign.