UEFA Champions League 2026-27 Soccer

[Crabtree]

Third Qualifying Round 1st Leg Results
Champions Path
FC Ararat-Armenia (ARM) 2 V 1 Celje (SVN)
Mjällby AIF (SWE) 1 V 2 Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
Hapoel Beer-Sheva (ISR) 1 V 0 Crvena Zvezda (SRB)
PFC Levski Sofia (BUL) 1 V 0 FC Kairat Almaty (KAZ)
GNK Dinamo (CRO) 5 V 0 FK Kauno Žalgiris (LTU)
Aarhus (DEN) 2 V 1 Sabah FC (AZE)

League path
AC Sparta Praha (CZE) 2 V 1 Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
Olympiacos FC (GRE) 0 V 0 N.E.C. Nijmegen (NED)
R. Union Saint-Gilloise (BEL) 3 V 3 FK Bodø/Glimt (NOR)
Fenerbahçe (TUR) 2 V 0 Sturm Graz (AUT)

 

[Crabtree]

Third Qualifying Round 2nd Leg Results

Champions Path
FC Kairat Almaty (KAZ) 0 V 1 PFC Levski Sofia (BUL) - (Agg 0-2)
Sabah FC (AZE) 4 V 0 Aarhus (DEN) - (Agg 5-2)
FK Kauno Žalgiris (LTU) 1 V 2 GNK Dinamo (CRO) - (Agg 1-7)
Crvena Zvezda (SRB) 0 V 2 Hapoel Beer-Sheva (ISR) - (Agg 0-3)
Celje (SVN) 2 V 0 FC Ararat-Armenia (ARM) - (Agg 3-2)
Slovan Bratislava (SVK) 2 V 0 Mjällby AIF (SWE) - (Agg 4-1)

League Path
FK Bodø/Glimt (NOR) 3 V 2 R. Union Saint-Gilloise (BEL) AET - (Agg 6-5)
N.E.C. Nijmegen (NED) 2 V 1 Olympiacos FC (GRE) AET - (Agg 2-1)
Sturm Graz (AUT) 0 V 1 Fenerbahçe (TUR) - (Agg 0-3)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) 3 V 0 AC Sparta Praha (CZE) - (Agg 4-2)

Play-off draw
Champions Path
PFC Levski Sofia (BUL) V AEK Athens FC (GRE)
Celtic FC (SCO) V LASK (AUT)
GNK Dinamo (CRO) V Viking FK (NOR)
ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK) V NK Celje (SVN)
Hapoel Beer-Sheva FC (ISR) V Sabah FC (AZE)

League Path
Fenerbahçe SK (TUR) V Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
N.E.C. Nijmegen (NED) V FK Bodø/Glimt (NOR)

 

[Crabtree]

Play-off 1st Leg Results
Champions Path
GNK Dinamo (CRO) 2 V 2 Viking FK (NOR)
PFC Levski Sofia (BUL) 0 V 0 AEK Athens FC (GRE)
Celtic FC (SCO) 3 V 0 LASK (AUT)
Hapoel Beer-Sheva FC (ISR) 2 V 1 Sabah FC (AZE)
ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK) 1 V 1 NK Celje (SVN)

League Path
Fenerbahçe SK (TUR) 1 V 1 Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
N.E.C. Nijmegen (NED) 1 V 3 FK Bodø/Glimt (NOR)

Play-off 2nd Legs
Tuesday 25th August
Champions Path
Sabah FC (AZE) V Hapoel Beer-Sheva FC (ISR) - (Agg 1-2) - (17:45)
LASK (AUT) V Celtic FC (SCO) - (Agg 0-3) - (20:00)

League Path
FK Bodø/Glimt (NOR) V N.E.C. Nijmegen (NED) - (Agg 3-1) - (20:00)

Wednesday 26th August
Champions Path
AEK Athens FC (GRE) V PFC Levski Sofia (BUL) - (Agg 0-0) - (20:00)
NK Celje (SVN) V ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK) - (Agg 1-1) - (20:00)
Viking FK (NOR) V GNK Dinamo (CRO) - (Agg 2-2) - (20:00)

League Path
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) V Fenerbahçe SK (TUR) - (Agg 1-1) - (20:00)

Very good result for Celtic. I wouldn't say guaranteed qualification, but they have a great chance of progressing.

 

[BlackEyed Pete]

Very good result for Celtic. I wouldn't say guaranteed qualification, but they have a great chance of progressing.

Celtic have had a nightmare in Linz. They have thrown away a 4-goal aggregate lead and are desperately trying to hold on at 4-4 in extra-time. Scottish football is a joke.

 

[Crabtree]

Celtic have had a nightmare in Linz. They have thrown away a 4-goal aggregate lead and are desperately trying to hold on at 4-4 in extra-time. Scottish football is a joke.

Yeah, a total embarrassment for Celtic but I'm not actually surprised. They are terrible away from home in Europe, and their current squad is one of the worst I can remember in the last 10 to 15 years. They were lucky to win the league, in all honesty.

 

[Crabtree]

Play-off 2nd Leg Results

Champions Path
Sabah FC (AZE) 5 V 2 Hapoel Beer-Sheva FC (ISR) AET - (Agg 6-4)
LASK (AUT) 5 V 1 Celtic FC (SCO) AET - (Agg 5-4)
AEK Athens FC (GRE) 4 V 0 PFC Levski Sofia (BUL) - (Agg 4-0)
NK Celje (SVN) 1 V 2 ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK) AET - (Agg 2-3)
Viking FK (NOR) 3 V 1 GNK Dinamo (CRO) - (Agg 5-3)

League Path
FK Bodø/Glimt (NOR) 3 V 0 N.E.C. Nijmegen (NED) - (Agg 6-1)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) 1 V 2 Fenerbahçe SK (TUR) - (Agg 2-3)

 

[Crabtree]

European champions Paris St-Germain will face Premier League duo Manchester City and Aston Villa as well as five-time winners Barcelona in the league phase of this season's Champions League.

The back-to-back Champions League winners will welcome Barca to Parc des Princes, while they were also handed trips to Villa Park and Manchester in the draw for the league phase.

Premier League champions Arsenal, meanwhile, will host 15-time winners Real Madrid at Emirates Stadium, and have also been handed a trip to Bayern Munich.

Mikel Arteta's men, who were beaten by PSG on penalties in the final last season, will face Borussia Dortmund, Real Betis, Lille, Napoli, Azerbaijan champions Sabah and Slavia Prague as well.

Enzo Maresca's City will welcome PSG to Etihad Stadium and travel to Barcelona, where they will have a reunion with Spanish World Cup winner Rodri, who moved to the Nou Camp in a £65m deal this summer.

City will also be up against another of their former midfielders in Kevin De Bruyne when Napoli visit Manchester, with Sporting, Porto, RB Leipzig, AEK Athens and Lens their other opponents.

Europa League winners Villa, returning to the competition after a season away, will host PSG and Dortmund and travel to Barcelona and Galatasaray.

Unai Emery's side also face Club Brugge, Fenerbahce, Viking and Slavia Prague.

Manchester United, returning after a two-year hiatus, will meet Bayern, Atletico Madrid, Roma, Sporting, Leipzig, Villarreal, Sabah and Como.

Liverpool, meanwhile, host Atletico, Porto, Villarreal and Lens while visiting Inter Milan, Brugge, Fenerbahce and LASK.

The first league-phase matches will be played on Tuesday, 8 September and the last round of games will take place on 27 January 2027, with the exact schedule to be released on Saturday.

This season's final will be held in Madrid on 5 June.

 

[Crabtree]

Who the Premier League sides will face​

Arsenal: Real Madrid (home), Bayern Munich (away), Borussia Dortmund (home), Real Betis (away), Lille (home), Napoli (away), Sabah (home), Slavia Prague (away)

Aston Villa: PSG (home), Barcelona (away), Borussia Dortmund (home), Club Brugge (away), Fenerbahce (home), Galatasaray (away), Viking (home), Slavia Prague (away)

Liverpool: Atletico Madrid (home), Inter Milan (away), Porto (home), Club Brugge (away), Villarreal (home), Fenerbahce (away), Lens (home), LASK (away)

Manchester City: PSG (home), Barcelona (away), Sporting Club (home), Porto (away), Napoli (home), Leipzig (away), AEK Athens (home), Lens (away)

Manchester United: Bayern Munich (home), Atletico Madrid (away), Roma (home), Sporting Club (away), Leipzig (home), Villarreal (away), Sabah (home), Como (away)

How does the league phase work?

Each of the 36 teams plays eight different teams - four at home and four away - in the league phase.

Teams who finish in the top eight automatically qualify for the last 16, while those placing ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged knockout play-off for the chance to join them.

Sides who finish 25th or lower will be eliminated and will not drop into the Europa League.

 

[Crabtree]

Match Day One
Tuesday 8th September
17:45 Kick-offs
AEK Athens FC (GRE) V LASK (AUT) 1-0
Club Brugge KV (BEL) V Aston Villa (ENG) 2-3

20:00 Kick-offs
Borussia Dortmund (GER) V Villarreal CF (ESP) 3-2
FC Porto (POR) V Manchester City (ENG) 0-2
LOSC Lille (FRA) V Real Betis Balompié (ESP) 2-3
Real Madrid C.F. (ESP) V FC Internazionale Milano (ITA) 2-1

A decent win for Aston Villa, considering their poor start to the season in the Premier League.

Man City win 2-0 but were really quite poor after they scored the first goal. They gave the ball away too often, and at times it looked like one of those strange European nights they suffered from time to time during Guardiola's reign, when they dropped points.

Shocking goalkeeping by the Inter keeper gifted Real Madrid a goal. Real Madrid already looking like a Mourinho team. Boring, generic, predictable.

 

[Crabtree]

Match Day One
Wednesday 9th September
17:45 Kick-offs
FC Barcelona (ESP) V Feyenoord (NED) 5-1
VfB Stuttgart (GER) V Viking FK (NOR) 3-1

20:00 Kick-offs
Liverpool FC (ENG) V Atlético de Madrid (ESP) 2-1
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) V ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK) 6-1
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) V Galatasaray A.Ş. (TUR) 3-1
SSC Napoli (ITA) V Arsenal FC (ENG) 0-1

Nice goal by Martin Odegaard to give Arsenal the win. Arsenal's squad is ridiculous. Wouldn't be a shock if they went one better and won it this year.

Mac Allister with a rocket for Liverpool as they come from behind to beat Atletico - still early in the season, but I'm not convinced by Liverpool in any section of the pitch. I have questions about their goalkeeper, defence, midfield, and attack!