Champions League Draw Set Without Hapoel Be'er Sheva as 32 Teams Qualify

The UEFA Champions League draw will take place on August 26, 2026, at 18:55 local time, broadcast live on Sport 5, featuring 32 of the 36 participating teams. Hapoel Be'er Sheva did not qualify this year, but the tournament will include many of the world's top clubs. Four remaining spots will be decided in upcoming matches involving AEK Athens vs. Levski Sofia, Celje vs. Slovan Bratislava, Lyon vs. Fenerbahçe, and Viking vs. Dinamo Zagreb.

For the third consecutive season, the Champions League will feature 36 teams divided into four pots based on rankings. Each team will play twice against teams from the same pot, once at home and once away, with efforts to avoid matches between clubs from the same country. The top eight teams after the group stage will advance directly to the round of 16, while teams ranked 9 to 24 will compete in a knockout playoff to join them. Teams ranked 25 to 36 will be eliminated.

The group stage begins on September 8, 2026, with matches spread over three consecutive days, concluding on January 27, 2027. The first pot includes European giants such as Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, and Atlético Madrid. The second pot features Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting Lisbon, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis, and PSV Eindhoven. The third and fourth pots include teams like Feyenoord, Lille, Napoli, Leipzig, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bodø/Glimt, Galatasaray, Sabah, Slavia Prague, Stuttgart, Como, Lens, and LASK Linz.

The knockout phase dates are set from February to May 2027, with the final scheduled for June 5, 2027, at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid.