Final season’s runners-up, Arsenal, will play the likes of Actual Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Lille within the league section.
Printed On 27 Aug 2026
Two-time defending champions Paris Saint-Germain had been handed conferences with Barcelona, Manchester Metropolis and Aston Villa, amongst their eight matches within the league section of this season’s Champions League, when the draw took place on Thursday.
PSG, who beat Arsenal on penalties in Budapest in Could to retain the trophy, will play Barcelona, Roma, Turkish champions Galatasaray and Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia at residence.
Luis Enrique’s staff will journey to England twice to face Metropolis and Villa. They beat each groups on the best way to profitable their first Champions League title in 2025, and in addition defeated the latter within the UEFA Super Cup in Austria earlier this month.
The French champions will even go to Spain to play Villarreal and Italy to tackle a Como aspect coached by Cesc Fabregas.
“I can’t say something unhealthy concerning the Champions League, however I received’t be watching the draw. I will likely be enjoyable and going out on my bike, then we’ll check out the menu. However I might join the identical outcome as within the final two years,” Luis Enrique informed reporters earlier Thursday.
PSG are aiming to turn into European champions for a 3rd straight yr, one thing solely the Actual Madrid of 2016 to 2018 have achieved within the final 50 years.
The primary matches on this season’s league section will likely be performed between Tuesday, September 8 and Thursday, September 10, with the ultimate video games in late January. UEFA is anticipated to announce the total fixture schedule on Saturday.
Final season’s runners-up, Arsenal, the Premier League champions, will notably host Actual Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Lille, in addition to Sabah, the membership from Azerbaijan who got here via 4 two-legged qualifying ties to succeed in the league section for the primary time.
The Gunners have a tricky record of away ties towards Bayern Munich, Actual Betis, Napoli and Slavia Prague.
Fenerbahce again, Viking in
Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool will likely be at residence to Atletico Madrid, Porto, Villarreal and Lens, whereas enjoying Inter Milan, Membership Brugge, Fenerbahce and Austrian league section debutants LASK away.
Manchester United, who weren’t within the first pot of seeds, have residence video games towards Bayern, Roma, RB Leipzig and Sabah, and in addition a collection of inauspicious away fixtures towards Atletico, Sporting of Portugal, Villarreal and Como.
Different notable video games embody Manchester Metropolis visiting Barcelona and Actual Madrid entertaining Inter, whereas final season’s Europa League winners, Villa, should go to Barcelona and play Dortmund at residence. Unai Emery’s staff will even deal with Istanbul giants Galatasaray and Fenerbahce.
The latter are showing within the Champions League correct for the primary time since 2008/09 after beating Lyon within the playoffs this week.
New names on this season’s competitors are Como, who’ve upset the standard order in Serie A, and Sabah, whereas LASK made it to this stage for the primary time after a surprising comeback win over Celtic within the playoffs.
Final yr’s Norwegian champions Viking, from the town of Stavanger, have reached the Champions League correct for the primary time, too, and so they have a glamorous fixture schedule that features Bayern, Atletico, Villa and Napoli.
That is the third season for the reason that introduction of the brand new format for the Champions League, with 36 groups now all pooled collectively in a single large league and every enjoying video games towards eight completely different opponents.
This season’s last will likely be performed on the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid on June 5, 2027.
