Champions League playoff draw 2026: the draw for the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League play-off round takes place on Monday, August 3, at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, with the ceremony scheduled for 10:00 CET. Seven two-legged ties will be drawn — five in the Champions Path and two in the League Path — with the winners completing the 36-team league phase lineup.
The key detail of this draw is that the third qualifying round has not yet been completed. First legs are played on August 4-5 and second legs on August 11, so UEFA will draw the play-off ties using placeholder entries for the third-round winners. That means the pairings are set in principle, but the actual clubs in several ties will only be known after the third round concludes.
How Does the Champions League Playoff Draw Work in 2026?
The play-off round is split into two paths. The Champions Path features ten clubs and five ties, drawn between seeded and unseeded entries based on UEFA club coefficients. The League Path features four clubs and two ties, with all participants advancing from the third qualifying round. In both paths, teams are seeded by the highest coefficient of the clubs involved in each undecided third-round pairing.
The draw procedure is standard UEFA practice: seeded entries are drawn against unseeded entries, with clubs from the same association kept apart where possible. Because several third-round ties are undecided, the draw will assign “Winner of third-round pairing X” to a seeded or unseeded slot, and the actual opponents become clear once those ties are resolved.
Which Clubs Are in the League Path Playoff Draw?
The League Path features four clubs, and if the seeded sides advance from the third round, they will be Lyon, Bodo/Glimt, Olympiacos and Fenerbahce. Lyon carry the highest coefficient at 65.750, followed by Bodo/Glimt at 64.000, Olympiacos at 62.250 and Fenerbahce at 57.750. The third-round pairings are Lyon against Sparta Prague, Bodo/Glimt against Union Saint-Gilloise, Olympiacos against NEC Nijmegen, and Fenerbahce against Sturm Graz.
If any of the unseeded third-round teams pull off an upset, they would take the place of the seeded side in the play-off draw, and the coefficients would be adjusted accordingly. That uncertainty is the defining feature of this draw: the pairings are structurally clear, but the names on the balls are not.
What Are the Playoff Dates and What Happens to the Losers?
The first legs of the play-off round are scheduled for August 18-19, with the return legs on August 25-26. Confirmed fixture dates and kick-off times will be announced following the draw. The seven winners advance to the Champions League league phase, joining the 29 clubs that have already qualified, while the seven losers drop into the Europa League league phase for the 2026/27 season.
For the clubs involved, the play-off round is the final hurdle before the biggest prize in European club football. The financial difference between the Champions League league phase and the Europa League is enormous, and every club in this draw will treat both legs as cup finals. The draw on August 3 sets the road map; the third-round results on August 11 complete it.
What Should Fans Watch for in This Draw?
The main storyline is the League Path, where the two ties will likely pair the four strongest non-champions in qualifying. Lyon, Bodo/Glimt, Olympiacos and Fenerbahce are all genuine European-level clubs, and the draw could produce a heavyweight tie with a place in the league phase at stake. The Champions Path, meanwhile, features clubs such as Celtic, Red Star Belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb, all chasing the final five spots.
Until the third-round ties are decided, the play-off draw remains a skeleton. But it is a skeleton that shapes the entire final week of qualifying: the fixtures, the home-and-away order and the broadcast schedule all flow from Monday’s ceremony in Nyon. For fans of the clubs still alive in qualifying, August 3 is the day the road to the league phase starts to look real.
There is also a broader context worth remembering. The Champions League has expanded to 36 teams for the 2026/27 season, with the league phase replacing the traditional group stage. The play-off round is the last gateway into that competition, and the seven winners will join 29 clubs that have already secured their places. Every tie in this round carries the weight of an entire season’s ambitions, and the draw on August 3 is where those ambitions are first put on the map.
Sources:
- UEFA.com: Champions League play-off draw — 2026/27
- UEFA.com: Champions League 2026/27 fixtures and results
- Bert Kassies: Seeding in the Champions League 2026/27
Last updated: August 3, 2026