How to follow Thursday's Champions League draw - and who is in each pot?

BBC Sport’s Ask Me Anything team has answered a flurry of questions about the upcoming 2026‑27 UEFA Champions League, revealing that the league‑phase draw will take place on **30 August 2026** at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw will be streamed live, with the 32 clubs that have progressed from the group stage being allocated to the knockout rounds in a standard bracket format.

The pots for the draw will be seeded by the UEFA club coefficients, with the champions of the top five associations occupying Pot 1 (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France). Pot 2 will contain the champions of the next five associations (Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey and Austria). Pot 3 will feature the champions of the following five (Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Sweden), while Pot 4 will hold the champions of the remaining five (Romania, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia and Scotland). Each pot will be drawn in turn, ensuring a balanced mix of clubs from across Europe in the knockout phase.

With the draw date now confirmed, clubs and fans can begin to plan for the next stage of Europe’s premier club competition, knowing exactly when and how the match‑ups will be determined.