The draw for the main tournament of the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League took place in Monaco. Azerbaijan's Sabah, whose goal is guarded by Kazakhstani Stas Pokatilov, making their debut in the tournament, will play against Spanish Barcelona and Villarreal, English Arsenal and Manchester United, German Borussia Dortmund, Italian Napoli, Czech Slavia and Norwegian Viking. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Sabah will host Barcelona, Borussia, Napoli and Slavia in Baku. The remaining clubs will be played away.
League phase participants
29 teams qualified automatically for the league phase. Seven more participants were determined through qualification.
Sabah's path
Under Lithuanian coach Valdas Dambrauskas, the team, like Kairat last year, overcame four qualifying rounds. At the start, the Azerbaijani champions beat Welsh TNS twice – 2:0, 2:1. In the second round, they defeated Finnish KuPS – 1:0, 2:0. Then Danish Aarhus was passed – 1:2, 4:0. In the play-offs, Sabah beat Israeli Hapoel Be'er Sheva – 1:2, 5:2. In the last game, Pokatilov made two costly mistakes, but that did not prevent his team from winning big in extra time.
Pokatilov's achievement
Interestingly, 33-year-old Kazakh goalkeeper Stas Pokatilov, the main goalkeeper of the Baku side, got the opportunity to play in the main tournament of a third European competition. In 2013, the 21-year-old goalkeeper played for Karaganda's Shakhter in the Europa League group stage, and in 2021 – for Kairat in the Conference League. The Champions League will add to the collection of the Uralsk native, who has 30 caps for the Kazakhstan national team.
Regulations
According to the 2026/27 Champions League regulations, each of the 36 teams will play 8 matches in the league phase against different opponents. The top eight clubs will advance directly to the round of 16. Teams finishing 9th to 24th will participate in play-off matches for the right to play in the round of 16. Then – the knockout stage. The 2026/27 Champions League final will be held at the Metropolitano stadium in Madrid on June 5 next year.
Match schedule
The exact schedule of the league phase matches will be announced later. For now, the dates are known:
- 01Round 1: September 8-10
- 02Round 2: October 13-14
- 03Round 3: October 20-21
- 04Round 4: November 3-4
- 05Round 5: November 24-25
- 06Round 6: December 8-9
- 07Round 7: January 19-20
- 08Round 8: January 27
Kazakhstan's Kairat
Kazakhstan champion Kairat performed poorly in the qualification of this Champions League. From there they dropped into the Europa League qualifying. And, in the end, they will likely end up in the Conference League. The return match against Anderlecht will take place late tonight. The first match was lost at home – 0:3.
The draws for the main tournaments of the Europa League and Conference League will take place tomorrow.