Champions League Draw Day: Key Facts for Thursday

The wait is nearly over. On Thursday, August 27, the 36 clubs in the Champions League league phase will learn their eight opponents and start plotting the road ahead. It is the first real turning point of the new season, when hype turns into fixtures and every contender finds out whether the schedule looks generous or brutal.

Paris Saint-Germain enter as the team everyone wants to chase after their title defense in Budapest in May. The European picture has changed sharply since the competition moved to its new format in 2024/25, and that makes this draw feel bigger than a simple ceremony. Each club now receives a distinct set of matches, which means the league phase can shape an entire campaign before a ball is kicked.

When the draw begins

The league phase draw takes place on Thursday, August 27, with the start scheduled for 5 p.m. BST. That timing matters because the full lineup of opponents will be locked in the same evening, giving teams, supporters, and analysts an immediate read on who gained the best route and who drew the toughest road.

Who is in the hat

The 36 clubs are spread across four pots based on European ranking, and that structure controls the order in which opponents are assigned. Pot 1 brings the established heavyweights, including Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid.

Pot 2 adds another layer of danger with Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis, and PSV Eindhoven. Pot 3 is packed with dangerous outsiders such as Feyenoord, Lille, Bodo/Glimt, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray, and the winner of Fenerbahce against Lyon. Pot 4 completes the field with the winner of Dinamo Zagreb versus Viking, the winner of Slovan Bratislava versus Celje, Slavia Prague, VfB Stuttgart, LASK, the winner of Levski Sofia versus AEK Athens, Como, Lens, and Sabah.

How the new format changes everything

This is no longer the old group-stage model where four teams were locked together and repeated the same pattern. Under the Swiss-style league phase, every club is paired with eight different opponents, drawn two from each pot, and no two teams receive the same exact schedule. That makes the outcome far more unpredictable and gives the draw far more influence over the next several months.

The only major restriction is simple: teams cannot be matched with opponents from their own country. Beyond that, the draw can create almost any kind of challenge, from a glamorous set of marquee nights to a punishing run against several elite sides. With eight matchdays ahead, Thursday’s ceremony is about much more than curiosity. It sets the tone for the race to the knockout rounds and can quietly decide which clubs spend the autumn chasing momentum and which spend it chasing survival.