The 2026/27 Champions League is set up to be one of the most star-studded editions of the competition in years. The league phase draw, held on 27 August at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, paired holders Paris Saint-Germain with Barcelona and Manchester City among their eight opponents, sent Arsenal back into a rematch of last season's final against Real Madrid on the group schedule, and gave four clubs from smaller footballing nations, Sabah FK, Viking FK and LASK among them, a shot at the biggest stage in the sport.

Here's what happened in last season's final, what the draw produced for this season, and where to actually watch the highlights once matches get under way in September.

How to watch Champions League highlights

Our Champions League highlights hub collects every uploaded clip in one place as soon as it lands, with a multi-source player that switches to a working upload automatically if one is blocked in your region. UEFA's official channels also post extended highlights shortly after full time for every match in the competition.

Relive last season's final: PSG 1-1 Arsenal (PSG win 4-3 on penalties)

The 2025/26 final at the Puskas Arená in Budapest was as tense as knockout football gets. Kai Havertz put Arsenal ahead inside six minutes, but Paris Saint-Germain drew level in the second half through an Ousmane Dembélé penalty, and neither side found a winner across the remaining 90 minutes and extra time. It went to a shootout, and it was Arsenal who blinked first: Eberechi Eze fired over, and although David Raya saved from Nuno Mendes to give the Gunners a route back in, Gabriel Magalhães blazed the decisive kick over the bar to hand PSG their second straight European title.

For Luis Enrique's side, it made them only the second club in the modern era to successfully defend the Champions League, and set up a genuinely mouthwatering opening pot for this year's draw.

The 2026/27 draw: the fixtures to circle

PSG, installed as top seed as holders, were drawn against Barça and City among their eight games, arguably the toughest possible Pot 2/3 draw a defending champion could get. Arsenal, still smarting from May's shootout defeat, were paired with Real Madrid, a rematch neither side will need any extra motivation for. Bayern Munich host Manchester United, and four clubs who came through qualifying from smaller nations, Azerbaijan's Sabah FK, Norway's Viking FK and Austria's LASK among them, will spend the autumn hosting some of the biggest names in the sport.

The format stays the same as last season: 36 clubs in one league table rather than groups, each side playing eight matches (four home, four away) against opponents drawn from four seeded pots. The top eight finishers go straight into the round of 16, 9th to 24th enter a two-legged knockout play-off for the remaining spots, and anyone below 24th is out of Europe for the season. For the full mechanics, including exactly how the play-off round and the rest of the knockout stage work, read our Champions League new format explained guide, and for the complete pot-by-pot, club-by-club breakdown of the draw, see our full 2026/27 draw results.

When does the Champions League start this season?

Qualifying rounds ran through July and August, the league phase draw took place on 27 August 2026, and Matchday 1 of the new league phase kicks off in the second week of September. The final is scheduled for June 2027 in Madrid.

A quick history of the Champions League

The competition traces back to the European Cup, first played in 1955/56 and won by Real Madrid, who then went on to claim the first five editions outright. It was rebranded the Champions League in 1992/93 alongside a format change that let more than one club per country enter, which is when the competition began to look something like the version we know today. Real Madrid remain the record holders by a wide margin, with 15 titles, well clear of AC Milan's seven and Bayern Munich and Liverpool's six apiece. PSG's back-to-back wins put them alongside a short list of clubs to have retained the trophy, a feat that only a handful of sides across nearly seven decades of the competition have managed.

The Swiss-model league phase, introduced in 2024/25, was the biggest format change the competition has seen since the old group-stage era began in the early 1990s, replacing eight groups of four with a single 36-team table. It's produced more meaningful matches per club (eight instead of six) and effectively ended the era of "dead rubber" group games that used to pad out the middle of the competition's autumn schedule.

What to expect from a Champions League highlights reel

Extended highlights for Champions League matches typically run 8 to 12 minutes, longer than most domestic league packages, reflecting both the stakes of European nights and the standard of the football on show. Alongside every goal, expect closer attention paid to tactical setups and managerial substitutions than you'd usually get in a routine league highlights reel, since a single Champions League match can swing a club's entire season.

The clubs to watch beyond the favourites

PSG and Real Madrid tend to dominate the headlines heading into any Champions League season, but the competition's history is full of clubs who arrived without that kind of billing and went deep anyway. This season's Pot 4 debutants, Sabah FK, Viking FK and LASK, are unlikely to be anyone's pick to reach the knockout rounds, but the league phase format actually gives them a real, if slim, path: eight matches against a mix of opposition means one or two upset results can genuinely put a smaller club within touching distance of the top eight, something that was far harder to engineer under the old rigid group-of-four system.

Inter Milan's seeding as a Pot 1 club is its own reminder of how much a single result can shape a season's standing: reaching a Champions League final, as Inter have done in recent years, carries a coefficient boost that follows a club into the next season's draw regardless of how their domestic form looks at kickoff. That's part of why the "favourites" listed in Pot 1 aren't always the same set of clubs dominating their own leagues at the time of the draw, and why the earliest rounds of the league phase are worth watching just to see which of those clubs are actually playing like a Pot 1 side.

Champions League highlights FAQ

Who won the Champions League in 2025/26?

Paris Saint-Germain beat Arsenal 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the Puskas Arená in Budapest, winning back-to-back titles under Luis Enrique.

Where can I watch Champions League highlights?

UEFA's official channels post free extended highlights for every match shortly after full time. Our Champions League highlights hub collects them in one place as they're uploaded.

Who is PSG drawn against in the 2026/27 Champions League?

PSG's eight opponents include Barcelona and Manchester City among others, drawn from the four seeded pots under the Swiss-model league phase format.

Who is Arsenal drawn against in the 2026/27 Champions League?

Arsenal were drawn against Real Madrid, a repeat of one of the storylines from last season, plus opponents from the remaining three pots.

How does the Champions League league phase work?

All 36 qualified clubs sit in one table. Each plays eight matches against opponents from four pots, the top eight advance directly to the round of 16, and 9th to 24th go into a knockout play-off for the remaining spots.

When is the 2027 Champions League final?

The final is scheduled for June 2027 at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid.

Which club has won the most Champions League titles?

Real Madrid have won the competition a record 15 times, well ahead of AC Milan on seven and Bayern Munich and Liverpool on six each.

What is the Champions League league phase?

Introduced in 2024/25, it replaced the old group-stage format with a single 36-team table. Every club plays eight matches against opponents drawn from four seeded pots instead of the old six-game group format.

Which clubs are playing in the Champions League for the first time in 2026/27?

Several clubs from smaller footballing nations reached the league phase through qualifying this season, including Sabah FK of Azerbaijan, Viking FK of Norway and Austria's LASK, all seeded in Pot 4.

How many matches does a club play in the Champions League league phase?

Each of the 36 clubs plays eight matches, four at home and four away, against opponents drawn from the four seeded pots, before the table decides who advances directly and who enters the knockout play-off round.

What happens if a club finishes between 9th and 24th in the league table?

Those clubs enter a two-legged knockout play-off round, seeded so that 9th to 16th host the second leg, for the remaining places in the round of 16.

More Champions League reading

For the competition's greatest goalscorers, see our Champions League all-time top scorers list. For every fixture from this year's draw, read the full draw breakdown, and once the group phase kicks off, catch every goal on our Champions League highlights hub.