The draw is complete for the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League's still-kinda-new league phase, and there is a lot to unpack for big clubs, minnows, teams making their debut and everyone else in the 36-team table.
ESPN's Mark Ogden, Rob Dawson, Bill Connelly and Alex Kirkland tell you what you need to know.
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Biggest storylines
Matches like PSG at Manchester City, Real Madrid at Arsenal, Barcelona at PSG, Manchester City at Barcelona and Arsenal at Bayern Munich will highlight the league phase of the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League, the draw for which was completed on Thursday evening. Action will begin on Sept. 8, though the schedule of individual matches won't be announced until this weekend.
The slate is a fresh one of sorts: There are no rematches of ties from last season's quarterfinals, semis or finals. Still, the league phase was created to establish more early-season matchups of soccer blue bloods, and it produced plenty. This slate will require the sport's biggest names to accelerate early in the competition; Arsenal and Bayern Munich parlayed excellent league-phase performances into runs to the finals and semis, respectively, though they were both taken down by perennial league phase underachievers PSG.
For many, the highlight of the league phase comes when first-time teams host big names.
The league phase draw has shaken out favorably for some superpowers while granting other big clubs a much tougher journey. Valery HACHE / AFP via Getty Images As part of their first venture into European football, Como will host headliners like PSG and Manchester United while visiting Barcelona, while Sabah will host Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund and twice head to England for matches against Arsenal and Manchester United. Norway's Viking and Austria's LASK will make their first appearances since the introduction of a group stage or league phase; the former will host Bayern, while the latter welcomes Liverpool and Porto, among others. Meanwhile, last winter's knockout round darlings, mighty Bodø/Glimt, will welcome Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund to the cozy Aspmyra Stadion near the North Pole.
Seven teams will play three matches against teams currently ranked in the world's top 10, per Opta's power ratings: Atletico Madrid, Como, RB Leipzig, Roma, Sabah, Sporting CP and Villarreal. -- Bill Connelly