Barcelona ready for 2026-27 Champions League challenge

The league phase draw for the 2026-27 Champions League takes place on Thursday in Monaco, and Barcelona are poised to discover their European fate for the new campaign. Hansi Flick's side will be eager to go deeper into the competition after suffering a heartbreaking defeat to Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals last season.

The pots in full

Barcelona are confirmed in Pot 1 for the draw, joined by defending champions Paris Saint-Germain, beaten finalists Arsenal and La Liga rivals Atletico and Real Madrid. Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Manchester City and Inter round out the strongest pot of the competition.

There are plenty of big names scattered across the other pots. Three-time European champions Manchester United are back in the competition and find themselves in Pot 2 alongside Europa League winners Aston Villa, while the likes of Roma, Dortmund, Napoli and Porto are also in contention this year.

Pot 1

Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid.

Pot 2

Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis, PSV.

Pot 3

Feyenoord, Lille, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray.

Pot 3 or 4 (to be confirmed)

Bodo/Glimt, LASK, Sabah, Slavia Prague, Stuttgart, Como, Lens, Fenerbahce or Lyon, Dinamo Zagreb vs Viking, Slovan Bratislava or Celje, Levski Sofia or AEK Athens.

How the draw works

There will be 36 teams in the draw for the 2026-27 Champions League, with 29 qualifying automatically at the end of last season and a further seven making their way through qualifiers that conclude this week.

The 36 teams will be split into four separate pots, with Pot 1 featuring the highest-ranked teams and Pot 4 the lowest. The rankings are based on UEFA's club coefficients from the five-season period ending at the conclusion of 2025-26.

Every team in the draw will play two teams from each pot in the league phase. Teams from the same country cannot play each other, meaning Barcelona will not face any La Liga opposition in the league phase of the competition.

How far do you think Barcelona will go in this season's Champions League? Share your predictions in the comments below!