Champions League draw: Five Premier League clubs learn their fate

The five Premier League teams competing in this season’s UEFA Champions League discovered their eight league-phase opponents when the draw for the 36 participating clubs took place in Monaco on Thursday.

Aston Villa and Manchester City will both host back-to-back Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain during the league phase. Both clubs will also travel to the Camp Nou to face Barcelona, where City will be reunited with Rodri following his move to the Spanish giants this summer.

Arsenal have been drawn against Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. The Gunners are the team that Real Madrid have faced most often in the competition without recording a victory, having failed to win any of their four meetings.

Manchester United will also face Bayern, rekindling memories of the 1999 final, when the Red Devils famously came from behind to defeat the German side.

Liverpool have perhaps the most favourable draw of the Premier League contingent. Their toughest assignment is likely to be a trip to San Siro to face Inter Milan, where they could come up against recently departed Premier League stars John Stones, Djed Spence and Curtis Jones. The latter recently left Liverpool to join the Italian champions.

The earliest the five Premier League teams could face each other is in the knockout phase play-offs.

New UEFA regulations state that a team cannot play the same individual league phase fixture for three seasons in a row. This meant, for example, that Liverpool were unable to be paired at home to Real Madrid, while Arsenal were unable to be paired away to Inter Milan.

How the Champions League format works

Each team will play eight matches in total, four home and four away, facing two teams from each of the four seeded pots.

The top eight teams when the league stage finishes in February will automatically qualify for the last 16 knockout round. The 16 clubs placed ninth to 24th will enter a two-legged playoff round where they will play each other for the final eight knockout places. Those teams finishing 25th or lower will be eliminated and will not drop into the UEFA Europa League.

UEFA Champions League league phase dates

MD1: 8-10 September 2026

MD2: 13-14 October 2026

MD3: 20-21 October 2026

MD4: 3-4 November 2026

MD5: 24-25 November 2026

MD6: 8-9 December 2026

MD7: 19-20 January 2027

MD8: 27 January 2027

Champions League knockout stage dates

Knockout phase playoffs: 16-17 and 23-24 February 2027

Round of 16: 9-10 and 16-17 March 2027

Quarter-finals: 6-7 and 13-14 April 2027

Semi-finals: 27-28 April and 4-5 May 2027

Final: 5 June 2027, Madrid

Meanwhile, former French international Thierry Henry won the 2026 UEFA President's Award on Thursday.

Henry helped redefine what a modern striker could be: not just a poacher but a pacey, creative playmaker who could score and create goals almost effortlessly. Arsenal's greatest goalscorer and the architect of the Invincibles, he won the UEFA Champions League with Barcelona and both a EURO and a World Cup with France, scoring 411 goals for club and country.

Off the pitch, he has become one of the most respected voices in the game. He breaks matches down with a depth and precision that makes him sound less like a former player than a philosopher of the sport, and his honesty resonates with fans, coaches and colleagues past and present alike.

“Pace, grace, skill and ice-cold finishing made Henry a striker for the ages - and a man still writing his story within the sport as a world-class pundit. He has never hesitated to raise his voice on the issues that matter: relentlessly vocal about discrimination, racism and mental health, and just as generous with his time, supporting numerous humanitarian causes both during and after his football career. His passion and the work he did off the pitch showed that the “ice in his veins” was never the whole story - underneath it all there is a warm, deeply caring heart" said UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin.

Henry said: "Thank you to UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin for thinking about me for this award, I am very grateful. Receiving this award here in Monaco, where my career began, feels like a truly full-circle moment."

Since 1998, UEFA's annual President's Award has acknowledged outstanding achievements that transcend the sport. At the start of each new European season, the UEFA president recognises professional excellence and exemplary personal qualities, on and off the field.

Prior to the draw a meeting took place in Monaco, National Association representatives serving on the UEFA Executive Committee and European FIFA Council members were joined by the Presidents of European National Associations present in Monaco to discuss the continuing crisis at FIFA.

The meeting reviewed the fallout from the FIFA President’s aborted attempt to sell an interest in the FIFA World Cup to outside investors – a scheme which exposed a profound failure of judgement, an abuse of presidential power and a conception of leadership incompatible with the duties of the highest office in world football.

Those present unanimously mandated the UEFA President and Administration to pursue every available institutional, political and legal avenue necessary to secure fundamental reform, restore proper limits on presidential authority and ensure that FIFA is once again governed as an institution – not around one individual.

The first step must be a genuinely independent external review of FIFA Forward Enterprise, with full access to all relevant documents, communications and decision-making records. FIFA cannot investigate itself and expect the football community simply to accept its conclusions.

But the consequences of this crisis go beyond governance. The trust required to exercise the office of FIFA President has been broken and cannot be restored by withdrawing one proposal, issuing assurances or promising reform after the event. World football now needs new leadership capable of rebuilding that trust.

UEFA will therefore continue working with Confederations, Member Associations and the wider football community – including fans, players, clubs, leagues and others – to shape the future of FIFA. Should the current FIFA President nevertheless seek another mandate, UEFA will join forces with its partner confederations to ensure that Member Associations are offered a credible alternative – one committed to integrity, accountability, development and genuine institutional change.

FIFA has currently billions of dollars in reserves. This money belongs to the Member Associations. Together with other Confederations, UEFA will jointly explore a responsible release of part of FIFA’s reserves for the benefit of the Member Associations – while at the same time ensuring that any proposal preserves FIFA’s financial stability. The question is therefore why the FIFA President believed he needed outside investors to expand development funding.

The delegates were also informed that FIFA has now confirmed in writing to UEFA that the FIFA Forward Enterprise project has been “irrevocably and permanently withdrawn” and that it “will not re-appear in any other shape, construction, name or form”.

Having now secured the two assurances it required from FIFA on 30 July, and following consultation with its National Associations, UEFA has therefore agreed to suspend, on a provisional basis, the withdrawal by European teams from FIFA competitions in the coming season, including the Women’s U20 World Cup, U17 World Cup and the Women’s U17 World Cup. This position will remain under constant review and may be reconsidered immediately if circumstances so require.

While the immediate question of participation has now been resolved, the underlying crisis has not.

The abandonment of FFE does not erase the deception, intimidation and abuse of power that made it possible. Nor does it restore the confidence that has been lost.

This is not a choice between good governance and football development. Nor is this about Europe seeking greater power within FIFA. It is simply about ensuring that no part of world football – large or small, those with more and those with less – is dependent on the power of one individual.

FIFA has a fundamental responsibility to support every Member Association and this responsibility must be strengthened, not weakened. But development is an institutional obligation – not a presidential favour – and no Member Association should ever have to choose between the resources to which it is entitled and the freedom to exercise its own judgement.

UEFA’s position remains unequivocal: whether it is the World Cup or an Under-15 tournament, FIFA’s competitions are not for sale. Neither is the governance of our game. FIFA’s development resources must likewise never become instruments of personal or political influence. They belong to world football and must be protected by transparent, objective rules.

FIFA must once again be governed as an institution serving football – not operate as an instrument of individual power. - Uefa.com