Live Champions League draw: League phase pairings to be drawn in Monaco

Draw to take place at 5pm Irish timeNow, on to the Uefa President’s Award.It goes to Thierry Henry.Čeferin says he knew Henry as a “cold-blooded striker, without any emotions on the field”, but commends him on his efforts to tackle discrimination in the sport and his charity work since hanging up his boots.They’re having a bit of a chat with Henry now, going over some fond and not-so-fond Champions League memories. He was a runner-up with Arsenal in 2006 before sealing the title with Barcelona in 2009, beating Manchester United in the final.Before the draw, we’re going to celebrate “two very special individuals”.Uefa president Aleksander Čeferin takes to the stage to first tell us about the Respect: Beyond the Game award.The recipient is PSG captain Marquinhos. Čeferin highlights how Marquinhos comforted Arsenal players after his side’s Champions League victory in May.PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi picks up the award on Marquinhos’ behalf.As we’re played in with a live version of the Champions League anthem, here are the make-ups of the four pots, with their relevant club coefficient rankings:Pot 11. Paris Saint-Germain (France); 2. Bayern Munich (Germany); 3. Real Madrid (Spain); 4. Liverpool (England); 5. Inter Milan (Italy); 6. Manchester City (England); 7. Arsenal (England); 8. Barcelona (Spain); 9. Atlético Madrid (Spain)Pot 210. Borussia Dortmund (Germany); 11. Roma (Italy); 12. Sporting (Portugal); 13. Aston Villa (England); 14. Porto (Portugal); 15. Manchester United (England); 16. Club Brugge (Belgium); 17. Real Betis (Spain); 18. PSV (Netherlands)Pot 319. Feyenoord (Netherlands); 20. LOSC Lille (France); 21. Bodo/Glimt (Norway); 22. Napoli (Italy); 23. RB Leipzig (Germany); 24. Villarreal (Spain); 25. Fenerbahce (Turkey); 26. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine); 27. Galatasaray (Turkey)Pot 428. Slavia Praha (Czech Republic); 29. Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia); 30. Stuttgart (Germany); 31. AEK Athens (Greece); 32. LASK (Austria); 33. Como (Italy); 34. Lens (France); 35. Viking (Norway); 36. Sabah (Azerbaijan)The draw is almost ready to get under way in Monaco.On the home/away aspect of the draw – which will be determined by the all-knowing, all-powerful automated system – of the two fixtures each team will have against opponents from the four different pots, one will be played at home, the other away.Uefa are simply incapable of conducting a straightforward draw, so class is in session.Today’s league-phase draw will see the 36 teams split into four pots of nine based on their club coefficient rankings at the start of the year. The top nine ranked seeds will be in Pot 1 (with reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain ranked first), 10-18 in Pot 2, etc.The draw will be a mix of manual and digital. Stick with me here. A ball will manually be picked from Pot 1. When the club is revealed, automated software will randomly draw eight opponents; two teams from each of the four pots. The automated system will also determine whether these fixtures will be played at home or away.The automated system takes into account that a team cannot play a side from their own association (ie Premier League teams, which come under the English FA, cannot play each other), and a team can play a maximum of two teams from the same association (ie an English team can only play two Spanish teams).This procedure will be repeated for all the teams in Pot 1.With all the teams from Pot 1 assigned, the draw will move on to Pot 2. The teams will be drawn from Pot 2, already knowing their Pot 1 opponents, so one manually drawn from the bowl, the automated system will assign their remaining six opponents (two teams each from Pots 2, 3 and 4). Again, the system will also determine whether the games will be played at home or away.The draw continues to Pot 3, when only teams from Pots 3 and 4 will need to be assigned, and then Pot 4, when the remaining teams in that bowl will learn their fate.I’d suggest not getting too hung up on understanding the process. Just follow along and we’ll let you know how it all turns out.Five Premier League teams involved in this evening’s draw: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester City, and Manchester United.Of course, there’s also Irish interest further afield, Real Betis suddenly enjoying an uptick in Irish support, so we’ll keep an eye on where they end up.The league phase begins on September 8th and is due to wrap up on January 27th.Kick-off times and venues for the fixtures will be communicated “no later than Saturday”, according to Uefa.Here are all the league-phase dates:Matchday 1: September 8th-10th, 2026Matchday 2: October 13th/14th, 2026Matchday 3: October 20th/21st, 2026Matchday 4: November 3rd/4th, 2026Matchday 5: November 24th/25th, 2026Matchday 6: December 8th/9th, 2026Matchday 7: January 19th/20th, 2027Matchday 8: January 27th, 2027Hello, and welcome along to The Irish Times live blog for the league phase draw for the 2026/27 Uefa Champions League.Thirty-six teams are in the bowls to make 144 league-phase fixtures which will be played across eight rounds from early September to late January.We’ll have live updates from the draw, taking place in Monaco from 5pm Irish time.The clubs in the draw are:AEK Athens (Greece), Arsenal (England), Aston Villa (England), Atlético Madrid (Spain), Barcelona (Spain), Bayern Munich (Germany), Bodo/Glimt (Norway), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Club Brugge (Belgium), Como (Italy), Fenerbahçe (Turkey), Feyenoord (Netherlands), Galatasaray (Turkey), Inter Milan (Italy), LASK (Austria), Leipzig (Germany), Lens (France), Lille (France), Liverpool (England), Manchester City (England), Manchester United (England), Napoli (Italy), Paris (France), Porto (Portugal), PSV (Netherlands), Real Betis (Spain), Real Madrid (Spain), Roma (Italy), Sabah (Azerbaijan), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Slavia Praha (Czech Republic), Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia), Sporting CP (Portugal), Stuttgart (Germany), Viking (Norway), Villarreal (Spain).