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All you need to know about 2026/27 UEFA Champions League edition
21st July, 2026 06:03 PM
Europe’s elite clubs are preparing for another gruelling UEFA Champions League season, with the elite competition entering its 72nd season.
The road to the new edition for the 2026/27 season officially began on Monday, July 20, 2026, with the Third Qualifying Round (QR3) draw conducted at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
League phase format
The edition of the competition formerly known as the European Cup will also be the 35th under its current name and third under the league phase format.
The 2026/27 edition kicks off on July 7, 2026, and concludes with the final at Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid on Saturday, June 5, 2027.
Qualification process
Twenty-nine teams qualify directly for the league phase, with the final seven spots coming through qualifying, culminating in August’s play-offs.
The stage at which the teams enter qualifying is based on their association club coefficient rankings. All ties are played over two legs.
The 2026/27 Champions League qualifying rounds and play-offs are set to run through July 2026 for the first and second qualifying rounds through to August, before the play-off draws take place on August 18–19 and August 25–26, 2026.
36-team league main phase
This final qualifying tier will decide the last remaining spots for the 36-team Champions League main phase. The clubs aiming to reach the Madrid final will then contest the new 36-team league phase system.
Of the total, 29 clubs will qualify directly based on their domestic league finishes and UEFA coefficients, while the remaining seven spots are determined through the qualifying rounds.
The league phase will feature each team facing distinct opponents: four at home and four away, where the top eight teams automatically qualify for the Round of 16. Teams finishing 9th through 24th will enter a two-legged playoff round to compete for the remaining eight knockout spots.
Knock out phase dates
The Champions League knockout phase matches will then take centre stage from February 16 and 17 through to 23/24 February, 2027.
March features the round of 16 games before quarter-final matches occur, starting from April 7 through April 14, 2027.
The semi-finals will start from April 27 to May 5, 2027, before the finale showdown to crown the new champion at Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid on June 5, 2027.
Just like the 2026 winners PSG, the 2026/27 victors also gain a place in the league phase of the 2027/28 Champions League if they have not qualified via their domestic competition.
In August 2027, they will face the winners of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League in the UEFA Super Cup.
