English Premier League
Champions League 2026-27: How the 36-team qualification system will work
The UEFA Champions League 2026-27 will feature 36 clubs, with places allocated through domestic league positions, qualifying rounds and European competition success under the expanded league-phase format.
Football supporters around the world are eagerly anticipating the next edition of Europe’s leading club competition, with the opening of the new campaign approaching.
The continent’s biggest clubs will be competing for a place in the tournament, attracted not only by the scale of the financial rewards offered by UEFA but also by the increased excitement created by the competition’s revised qualification system. The new format has produced a greater number of high-profile ties across its various stages.
UEFA is continuing with the structure introduced for a third successive season. It has replaced the traditional group stage with a single league phase, creating a broader competitive environment and increasing the number of matches between leading European sides.
How the 36 places are allocated
A total of 32 clubs qualify through the usual criteria based on the UEFA association rankings and the results of the previous European competitions.
Those places are distributed as follows:
– The champions of the associations ranked from first to 10th.
– The runners-up from the associations ranked from first to sixth.
– The teams finishing third and fourth in the associations ranked from first to fourth.
– Six places awarded through the qualifying rounds.
– The UEFA Champions League winners.
– The UEFA Europa League winners.
The remaining four places are assigned according to additional criteria introduced under the competition’s revised structure.
One of those places goes to the club finishing third in the country ranked fifth in Europe. Another is awarded to a domestic league champion, increasing the number of clubs reaching the competition through the champions’ path from four to five.
The final two places are given to the countries whose clubs achieve the best collective performances in the 2025-26 season. The calculation is based on dividing the total number of points earned by the country’s clubs by the number of teams it has entered into European competition. The two associations with the highest averages receive the additional places.
Several of Europe’s major clubs have already secured their places in the 2026-27 edition. The full classification of the participating teams will be confirmed once qualification has been completed officially.
League-phase format
The 36 qualified clubs will enter a single league phase rather than being split into traditional groups. They will be placed into four seeding pots, with the draw selecting two opponents from each pot for every team.
Each club will play eight matches against eight different opponents. Four games will be played at home and four away, with no team facing the same opponent twice during the league phase.
The league-phase results will then determine each club’s route through the remainder of the tournament. The teams finishing from first to eighth will progress directly to the next stage of the UEFA Champions League.
Clubs in positions nine to 24 will enter a two-legged play-off. Those ties will determine the eight additional teams that join the top eight in the knockout stage.
The remaining teams, listed from 24th to 36th, will leave the competition. None of those clubs will transfer into the UEFA Europa League.
From the round of 16 onwards, the tournament will follow the familiar knockout format, with ties played over two legs as in previous editions. The final allocation of seeding positions will be decided after all qualified teams have been formally established, with clubs ranked according to their performances in recent European competitions.