How does the Champions League draw work? Key rules for 2026-27 UEFA league phase ceremony

The greatest club football competition in the world will soon see this year's new edition of the tournament draw closer to commencing in full.

The 2026-27 UEFA Champions League, the 72nd edition of Europe's top tournament, will see the league phase draw commence this week to set the matchups for the first proper phase of the competition.

PSG are hoping to become the fourth club ever to win three European titles in a row, potentially joining Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Ajax as the only clubs to do so in the history of the Champions League.

The Sporting News brings you everything you need to know about how the draw will work and what it means for all the teams involved.

MORE: What teams are in the 2026/27 Champions League?

When is the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League draw?

The league phase draw for the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League will take place on Thursday, August 27.

The ceremony will commence at 6 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. BST) a the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

How does the UEFA Champions League draw work? Format, rules for league phase

Thirty-six teams will participate in the league phase of the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League.

Twenty-nine of those clubs qualified directly via league position. Because that group also includes last year's Champions League winner, in this case Paris Saint-Germain, and last year's Europa League winner, in this case Aston Villa, two additional teams were elevated from the qualifying round competition, in this case Shakhtar Donetsk and Sporting CP.

The final seven teams to round out the field earned a league phase position by progressing through the qualifying rounds.

Those 36 league phase participants are split into four pots based on UEFA coefficient, with nine teams in each pot.

Each team will be drawn into eight league phase fixtures, two against teams in each pot, with one home and one away. No team can be drawn in league-phase matches against clubs from the same country, and no team can play fixtures against more than two teams from the same nation.

The draw will be largely automated. Teams will be manually drawn from the pots, largely as a formality, before their league-phase opponents are selected by UEFA's computer software, which has the aforementioned restrictions built in. As the draw progresses, the possible opponents will be narrowed down as teams are assigned fixtures.

Seeding pots for 2026-27 draw

Each of the four pots feature nine clubs. 

For the 2026/27 draw, the pots are divided almost entirely by UEFA club coefficient points. Additionally, last year's title winners PSG are automatically placed in Pot 1.

* Denotes Champions League title holders

How to watch the Champions League draw