EmiratesPot 1
Real MadridSpain
Fifteen-time European champions, the all-time record.
Champions League 2026/27
The league phase draw
Drawn on 27 August in Monaco. Arsenal’s eight opponents, pot by pot.
Arsenal’s draw
Arsenal host four games at the Emirates and travel for four more, with one opponent from each pot on either side. The draw spared them neither Pot 1 nor Pot 2.
AwayPot 1
Bayern MunichGermany
EmiratesPot 2
Borussia DortmundGermany
Already met this summer: they won 3-2 at the Emirates Cup.
AwayPot 2
Real BetisSpain
EmiratesPot 3
LilleFrance
The only French club in the draw.
AwayPot 3
NapoliItaly
EmiratesPot 4
SabahAzerbaijan
The first Azerbaijani club ever to reach the league phase.
AwayPot 4
Slavia PragueCzechia
The fixtures have since been dated, and the full schedule sits on the calendar page. Draw source: arsenal.com, cross-checked with Yahoo Sports.
The four pots
Clubs are seeded on their UEFA coefficient, except the holders, who take the top seeding in Pot 1 automatically. The lower the pot, the lower the coefficient, which does not make Pot 4 a gift when it holds Stuttgart, Como and Lens.
Pot 19 clubs
Arsenal
Manchester City
Liverpool
BarcelonaReal Madrid
Atlético MadridBayern Munich
Inter Milan
Paris Saint-GermainPot 29 clubs
Manchester United
Aston VillaReal BetisBorussia Dortmund
Roma
PSV Eindhoven
Porto
Sporting CP
Club BruggePot 39 clubs
Villarreal
RB LeipzigNapoliLille
Feyenoord
Galatasaray
Shakhtar Donetsk
Fenerbahçe
Bodø/GlimtPot 49 clubs
VfB Stuttgart
Como
LensSlavia Prague
AEK Athens
Slovan Bratislava
LASK
VikingSabahHow the draw works
Eight opponents, all different
Every club faces eight different opponents: two from each pot. Four at home, four away. You never play the same side twice, and you meet only eight of the other thirty-five clubs.
One table for everyone
No more groups of four. All 36 clubs sit in a single table. Since everyone faces different opponents, the run of fixtures is not equally hard from club to club. That is the price of the format.
Never your own league
A club cannot be drawn against a side from its own league, and faces at most two clubs from any one country. With 5 English clubs in the competition, Arsenal had 4 potential opponents ruled out before a ball was drawn.
Who goes through
The top eight go straight to the round of 16. From 9th to 24th, clubs play a two-legged play-off for the remaining eight places. From 25th down, a club is out, with no drop into the Europa League.
The calendar
The dated fixtures came out two days after the draw. Below are the matchday windows; all 144 fixtures, matchday by matchday, are on the calendar page.
League phase
Matchday 18–10 September 2026
Matchday 213/14 October 2026
Matchday 320/21 October 2026
Matchday 43/4 November 2026
Matchday 524/25 November 2026
Matchday 68/9 December 2026
Matchday 719/20 January 2027
Matchday 827 January 2027
Knockout phase
Knockout phase play-offs16/17 & 23/24 February 2027
Round of 169/10 & 16/17 March 2027
Quarter-finals6/7 & 13/14 April 2027
Semi-finals27/28 April & 4/5 May 2027
Final5 June 2027, in Madrid
Source: UEFA.com, official pots page, updated 26 August 2026. Full fixture list: the calendar tab.