2026/27 Champions League: Draw & Favorites

The 2026–27 Champions League Preview offers a look ahead at Europe’s premier club competition. Thirty-six clubs will compete, with 203 matches on the schedule, and at the end, the European champion will be crowned.
The tournament kicks off on September 8, 2026, and the opening round has a unique feature: The first matchday will be an exclusive Champions League week running from Tuesday through Thursday, while the Europa League and Conference League take a break. The group stage runs through January 27, 2027, followed by the playoffs, round of 16, quarterfinals, and semifinals.

The final will take place on June 5, 2027, at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid, in front of approximately 70,000 spectators. This marks the third season using the league-phase format, which replaced the traditional group stage in 2024. This preview details how the draw unfolded, which opponents the German clubs can expect, who are considered favorites, and where the matches will be played.

The draw took place on Thursday, August 27, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 36 participants were drawn the traditional way—by hand—and a computer then paired them up. There’s hardly any other way to handle this format: 144 matches had to be scheduled in just a few minutes.
Here’s how the process works:
Four draw pots, each containing nine teams: Only the defending champion is automatically seeded in Pot 1. All others are assigned based on the UEFA club coefficient, which takes into account results from the past five years. That’s why Real Madrid ended up in Pot 1 despite being eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Eight opponents per club: two from each pot, plus four home and four away matches. Home-and-away matches against the same opponent don’t occur until the knockout stage.
Two restrictions: Matches between clubs from the same country are prohibited, and a team from any single country can be drawn against a maximum of two opponents.
A single standings table for all: The top eight advance directly to the round of 16, while teams ranked ninth through 24 compete for the remaining spots in playoffs. For all teams below that, the tournament ends in January.
Austria’s LASK, Como 1907 from Italy, and Sabah FK from Azerbaijan are participating in the group stage for the first time. Incidentally, there will be two more draws: on January 29, 2027, for the playoff matchups, and on February 26, 2027, for the tournament bracket starting with the round of 16.

Four German teams are in the mix, and the Champions League predictions are likely to vary depending on the draw.

• FC Bayern Munich: At home, they’ll face Arsenal, Betis Sevilla, Bodø/Glimt, and Slavia Prague; on the road, they’ll take on Atlético Madrid, Manchester United, OSC Lille, and Viking Stavanger. Two matches stand out. The away game at Atlético takes the Munich team to the Estadio Metropolitano—the very same venue where the final will be held on June 5. And the match against Arsenal will be a rematch of their previous league encounter, which Bayern lost 1–3. This time, however, it will be at the Allianz Arena.
• Borussia Dortmund: Home games against Inter Milan, Betis Sevilla, Villarreal CF, and AEK Athens; away games at Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bodø/Glimt, and Sabah FK. BVB has largely avoided the biggest names, but they’ll be doing a lot of traveling: It’s about 2,000 kilometers to Bodø, and even further to Baku in Azerbaijan.
• RB Leipzig: The Saxons have drawn the toughest opponents. At home, they’ll face Manchester City, PSV Eindhoven, Shakhtar Donetsk, and RC Lens; on the road, they’ll travel to Real Madrid, Manchester United, Feyenoord Rotterdam, and Como. For the Saxons, this marks a return to the European stage; last season, they weren’t represented in any of the three competitions.
• VfB Stuttgart: At home against Atlético Madrid, Club Brugge, OSC Lille, and Viking Stavanger; on the road against Inter Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Galatasaray Istanbul, and Slovan Bratislava. The away game in Istanbul is likely to be the toughest challenge—not so much because of the opponent as because of the atmosphere.

One thing that stands out is the overlap: Dortmund and Stuttgart will both face Inter Milan, while Bayern and Stuttgart will both face Atlético Madrid. In addition, Bayern and Leipzig will each have to travel to Old Trafford.

Only the top eight teams advance directly to the Round of 16; teams ranked ninth through 24th must play two additional knockout matches in February. For the German clubs, this means: Bayern should aim for direct qualification; for Dortmund and Stuttgart, a spot in the upper mid-table is realistic; and Leipzig faces the toughest path, with Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Manchester United in its group.
When it comes to predicting the winner of the 2026–27 Champions League, there’s no getting around Paris Saint-Germain. The French side has won the competition twice in a row, most recently in the final in Budapest against Arsenal in a penalty shootout. Their key players have remained, and accordingly, they top the odds lists.
Behind them, four clubs with very different starting positions are pushing hard:
FC Bayern: Their last title came in 2020; this would be their seventh overall. Most recently, their run ended twice before the final—in the quarterfinals and last year in a spectacular semifinal against PSG. The first leg of that match ended 5–4 in Paris’s favor.
Arsenal: English champions and last year’s finalists. For the Gunners, it would be their first-ever triumph in the Champions League.
Real Madrid: With José Mourinho, the record champions have a new coach; their last title, in 2024, was two years ago.
FC Barcelona: Some experts rank them on par with PSG.

There is, however, one argument against the Parisians: Since the competition was renamed the Champions League in 1992, only one team has won it three times in a row—namely, Real Madrid.

The final will take place on June 5, 2027, at the Estadio Metropolitano, and there’s an interesting story behind it. Milan was originally scheduled to host the event, but UEFA stripped the city of the hosting rights because renovations at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium could not be completed in time. Madrid was awarded the bid and will thus host its sixth final. For the Metropolitano, this is the second time it has hosted the final, following 2019, when Liverpool defeated Tottenham 2-0 there.
For the winner, there is much more at stake than the 73.5-centimeter-tall trophy. The winner automatically qualifies for the 2027–28 Champions League group stage and will face the Europa League winner in the UEFA Super Cup in August 2027. In addition, all teams will receive a share of the approximately 2.5 billion euros that UEFA distributes to its participants each season. The entry bonus alone amounts to a good 18.6 million euros. For smaller clubs, the group stage alone covers a significant portion of their annual budget.
Bet on the Champions League matches now

The Champions League is broadcast live in Germany by two providers. DAZN will show 186 of the 203 total matches, including the conference broadcast. Amazon Prime Video will air the remaining matches: On each matchday, the service will broadcast the top match on Tuesday at 9 p.m., usually featuring a German team. So if you want to watch all of a German club’s matches, you’ll need both subscriptions. Only the final will be shown on free-to-air television, which will also be broadcast by ZDF.