When is the draw?

The league phase draw for the 2026/2027 season takes place on Thursday 27 August 2026, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. That is shortly after the final qualifying matches, so that all 36 participants are then known. The first matchday starts on 8 September 2026.

How are the pots put together?

The 36 clubs are split into four pots of nine clubs, based on the UEFA club coefficient (European performances over the past five years). Pot 1 contains the strongest clubs, pot 4 the lowest ranked. There is one exception: the title holder - last season's winner - automatically lands in pot 1, regardless of their own coefficient.

So pot 1 usually groups the title holder and the European heavyweights, while pot 4 more often brings together newcomers and clubs from smaller leagues. The pot allocation therefore helps determine how tough or how manageable a club's schedule becomes.

How does the draw work?

Each club draws two opponents from each pot - including from its own pot. That produces 8 different opponents. Per pot the club plays one match at home and one away, which comes down to 4 home matches and 4 away matches in the league phase.

The exact match dates and kick-off times only follow after the draw: first it is set who plays whom, then UEFA spreads the eight matches across the matchdays from September to late January. Right after the draw, every club therefore knows its eight opponents, but not yet the precise calendar.

The draw rules

Two hard rules steer the draw:

• No compatriots: clubs from the same country cannot be drawn against each other.
• Maximum two per country: a club faces at most two opponents from any one other country.

Why an automated draw?

With 36 clubs each getting 8 opponents plus the country rules, a fully manual draw would require almost a thousand balls and several hours - with a real risk of a "deadlock" in which the remaining clubs can no longer be legally drawn against each other. That is why UEFA uses a hybrid system: a ball is physically drawn to decide which club is up next, after which software randomly determines - within the rules - the eight opponents and the home/away split in a few seconds. An external auditor checks the procedure.

The draw and the Belgian clubs

Club Brugge are directly qualified as champions and are therefore in the league phase draw for sure. Union Saint-Gilloise take part as soon as they qualify through the qualifying rounds. Which pot a Belgian club ends up in depends on the coefficient at the time of the draw. You can read more about the road to the league phase in the guide about qualification.

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