UEFA Champions League Odds: Favorites Learn Fates Post Draw Results

Last year’s UEFA Champions League finalists, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain, are back among the favorites for the upcoming 2026-27 competition. On Thursday, participating teams learned their fates via the league-stage draw setting up the matchups, providing plenty of intrigue through the first phase of competition starting on Sept. 8. 

UEFA Champions League Opening Futures Odds

Some of these league-stage matches that conclude Jan. 27, 2027 read like potential Champions League finals from past years, or at least matchups deep into a knockout round. 

Arsenal’s path to the knockout rounds includes matches against Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund in London and away matches against Bayern Munich and Napoli. PSG will get Barcelona and Roma at home while traveling to Manchester City and current Europa League titleholders Aston Villa. 

Barcelona is another favorite in this year’s continental tournament, getting to host Man City and Villa. Also, in addition to the PSG away match, Barca will also travel to Sporting and Galatasaray among its eight matches. 

Real Madrid, in its quest to reclaim a title it’s quite familiar with, will host Inter Milan, PSV, and RB Leipzig. They also add Roma and Shakhtar Donetsk to an away dance card highlighted by Arsenal. 

Other intriguing matches involving top contenders include (with hosts listed first): 

• Liverpool vs. Atlético Madrid
• Inter Milan vs. Liverpool
• Atlético Madrid vs. Bayern Munich
• Manchester United vs. Atlético Madrid
• Manchester United vs. Bayern Munich
• Borussia Dortmund vs. Inter Milan

How is the Draw Conducted?

The 36 teams are put into four nine-team pots. Pot 1 representation included representatives from all of the “big five” European leagues (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1).

Pot 1 Teams

• Arsenal
• Liverpool
• Manchester City
• Atletico Madrid
• Barcelona
• Real Madrid
• Bayern Munich
• Inter Milan
• PSG 

Pot 2 Teams

• Aston Villa
• Dortmund
• Club Brugge
• Manchester United
• FC Porto
• PSV
• Real Betis
• AS Roma
• Sporting

Pot 3 Teams

• Bodo/Glimt
• Fenerbahce
• Feyenoord
• Galatasaray
• Lille
• Napoli
• RB Leipzig
• Shakhtar Donetsk
• Villarreal

Pot 4 Teams

• AEK Athens
• Como
• LASK Linz
• Lens
• Sabah
• Slavia Prague
• Slovan Bratislava
• Stuttgart
• Viking

Each team plays two teams from each pot, hosting one and away to the other, with no more than two sides from the same country among the eight.

In the league stage, a team can’t play another team from its own league.

The format, introduced ahead of the 2024-25 tournament, departs from the group stage format in which each team played home and away against three opponents. 

By pitting Pot 1 and Pot 2 teams against each other, and having those top two tiers face off in additional matches, organizers get to tout marquee matchups ahead of the knockout rounds. There’s more suspense heading into the final phases of the first stage, given how it’s set up. 

The top eight teams from the 36 (getting three points for a win and a point for a draw, with goal differential as the first tiebreaker) automatically get into the knockout rounds. From there, the ninth through 24th place teams each go into a two-leg playoff round to determine the other eight entrants in the final 16. 

That all builds to the final to be held at Atleti’s home stadium in Madrid, now known as the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, on Saturday, June 5, 2027. 

A Shift in Power?

Despite PSG being the reigning two-time title winners, the team is switching up its roster ahead of the title run — in some cases, involving other Pot 1 teams. 

Kang-in Lee, fresh off representing South Korea in this summer’s World Cup, has switched over to Atleti. French winger Bradley Barcola, instrumental in that team’s run to the semifinals before losing to eventual winners Spain, is completing a move to Liverpool after a protracted transfer window drama that also reportedly involved Arsenal as a suitor. 

PSG did bolster itself by getting Spain’s World Cup final hero, Ferran Torres, from Barcelona. They also added French left back Lucas Digne from Aston Villa. 

Barcelona has looked to bolster its attack and is reportedly settling on Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus to replace Torres, while also getting Rodri from Man City. Arsenal sought to get into the Pot 1 musical chairs by pursuing Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior this summer before the Brazilian star decided to reup with Los Blancos.

Arsenal is reportedly also interested in Atleti’s Julián Alvarez, after Barcelona’s bid for the Argentine forward was rebuffed. That may not pan out, leaving the core of the team that went to last year’s final bolstered by additions like Christos Tzolis and Bruno Guimarães to try to climb the mountain once more. 

Photo Credit: REUTERS