The 2026-27 Champions League league phase draw was made in Monaco on Thursday 27 August. PSG, the holders, Lens and Lille now know their eight opponents. Lyon, beaten in the play-off the night before, are not part of it.
Who do PSG face?
The only French club in pot 1, Paris Saint-Germain come in as back-to-back holders and land a heavy schedule.
At the Parc des Princes: Barcelona, AS Roma, Galatasaray and Slovan Bratislava.
Away: Manchester City, Aston Villa, Villarreal and Como.
Two ties stand out — Barcelona at home, and a trip to the Etihad Stadium.
What about Lens?
Runners-up in Ligue 1 and winners of the 2026 Coupe de France, RC Lens return to the competition the hard way.
At Bollaert: Manchester City, Sporting CP, Bodo/Glimt and Como.
Away: Liverpool, Club Brugge, RB Leipzig and Slavia Prague.
Lens host Manchester City and travel to Anfield: two nights that would sum up a European season on their own.
And Lille?
At the Stade Pierre-Mauroy: Bayern Munich, Real Betis, Galatasaray and Slovan Bratislava.
Away: Arsenal, AS Roma, Bodo/Glimt and Stuttgart.
LOSC draw the German champions at home and a trip to the Emirates Stadium.
Why is the schedule not final yet?
The draw sets the opponents, not the dates. The order of the eight matchdays and the kick-off times come out of a UEFA program that spreads the 144 league phase fixtures, making sure two clubs from the same city do not play at home on the same night.
The final schedule is expected on Saturday. Matchday 1 is already fixed for 8 to 10 September 2026.
Where is Lyon?
Olympique Lyonnais, fourth in Ligue 1, played the final qualifying round. They lost 1-2 at the Groupama Stadium on Wednesday to Fenerbahce after a 1-1 first leg: the Turkish side take the place and France is down to three clubs.
How does the league phase work?
The league phase puts 36 clubs in a single table. Each one plays eight matches against eight different opponents, four at home and four away — two drawn from each of the four pots of nine, seeded on the UEFA coefficient.
After the eight matchdays, the top eight go straight through to the round of 16. The clubs finishing 9th to 24th play knockout phase play-offs in February 2027; the bottom twelve are out, with no drop into the Europa League.
Which pot was each club in?
The four pots are set on the UEFA coefficient before the draw, the holders going straight into the first one. They are not groups: they exist only to balance the difficulty, each club taking two opponents from each of them. PSG are in pot 1, Lille in pot 3, Lens in pot 4.
Pot 1: PSG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid.
Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund, AS Roma, Sporting CP, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis, PSV Eindhoven.
Pot 3: Feyenoord, Lille, Bodo/Glimt, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Fenerbahce, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray.
Pot 4: Slavia Prague, Slovan Bratislava, Stuttgart, AEK Athens, LASK, Como, Lens, Viking, Sabah.
Where to watch this season?
Canal+ shows every Champions League match through to the end of the 2026-27 season, along with the Europa League and the Conference League. Matches are on the Canal+ channels and on myCanal.
There is one exception: the final, on Saturday 5 June 2027 at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid, is shown free-to-air on M6.
Sources
https://m.maxifoot.fr/football/article-65794.htm
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligue_des_champions_de_l'UEFA_2026-2027
