Mikel Arteta’s side are once again among Europe’s elite after an excellent Champions League campaign last season, when Arsenal reached the final before eventually missing out on the trophy.
Arsenal have discovered their eight opponents for the league phase of the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League, with Mikel Arteta’s side handed some mouthwatering ties following Thursday evening’s draw in Monaco. The standout fixture will see Real Madrid visit the Emirates Stadium, while the Gunners also face a huge trip to Germany to take on Bayern Munich, as Arsenal begin another bid to conquer Europe after reaching last season’s final.
The UEFA Champions League Draw Results
Arsenal’s Champions League opponents
Home:
- Real Madrid
- Borussia Dortmund
- Lille
- Sabah
Away:
- Bayern Munich
- Real Betis
- Napoli
- Slavia Praha
Under the league-phase format, Arsenal will play eight different opponents, with four matches taking place at the Emirates Stadium and four away from home.
Each club faces two teams from each of the four pots, playing one of those opponents at home and the other away. Clubs cannot, in principle, face teams from their own domestic association during the league phase.
That means Arsenal cannot be paired with any of the other English clubs involved in this season’s competition.
The 36 teams will all compete in one league table, rather than the traditional Champions League groups. Every result therefore contributes towards Arsenal’s position in the overall standings.
The top eight teams at the end of the league phase qualify automatically for the last 16, while the clubs finishing between ninth and 24th enter the knockout phase play-offs. Teams finishing 25th or below are eliminated from European competition.
When will Arsenal’s Champions League fixtures be confirmed?
Although Thursday’s draw determines Arsenal’s eight opponents and which four they will face at home and away, supporters will have to wait a little longer to discover exactly when those matches will take place.
UEFA has confirmed that the complete Champions League fixture list, including match dates and kick-off times, will be announced no later than Saturday, 29 August.
The league phase begins on 8 September, with the eight matchdays taking place across September, October, November, December and January.
The scheduled matchday windows are:
Matchday 1: 8–10 September 2026
Matchday 2: 13/14 October 2026
Matchday 3: 20/21 October 2026
Matchday 4: 3/4 November 2026
Matchday 5: 24/25 November 2026
Matchday 6: 8/9 December 2026
Matchday 7: 19/20 January 2027
Matchday 8: 27 January 2027
Arsenal will hope to put themselves firmly among the leading eight teams and secure direct qualification for the last 16 rather than having to negotiate the additional knockout play-off round.
After going agonisingly close to winning the competition last season, another Champions League adventure now lies ahead for Arteta and his players.
What do you make of Arsenal’s Champions League draw? Which fixture are you most looking forward to, and do you think the Gunners can go one step further in Europe this season? Let us know in the comments.
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Decent draw. Napoli away annoys me though. Unlikely we’ll get as many points as last season but I still think we can reach top 8, hopefully with some comfort
I love this draw. The away ties not far to travel. Some good tests against strong and glamorous opponents.
It could slip in beautifully into our fixture list beautifully on Saturday.
Ridiculous what they have done to the CL
Ruined it for me .
👍Dan kit. Tell me when the real tournament starts.
yeah hate this format
harder to get knocked out lol
DK, it’s ridiculous what they’ve done to the European Cup imo.
I would love to see it go back to good old fashioned European Cup.
But sadly with all the big boys wanting their piece of the pie, that’s not going to happen.
Sorry guys, I like it. 🙂
It provides more big clashes in phase 1 than the old format.
And look at sides going to play off, PSG 2 years ago, nearly went out in first round, in the old system you had to be numpty not to make top 2 – every little 4 team league so often predictable from the start.
Am I wrong on those 2 points?
The first season of this format Liverpool top but handed difficult run, tweaking it so it matters where you on in top 8 giving much to fight for makes a big difference too.
MG, when it was the European Cup it was a straight knock out competition. You had clashes between big clubs. You also had smaller clubs like Bruges, Hamburg, Nottingham Forest getting to the finals.
Nowadays it’s all about the big clubs and money.
That format sounds silly. How do you sell all the big matches for lots of money, without big matches?
The same way like we sold Arsenal vs Wigan, Arsenal vs Olympiacos, Arsenal vs Kairat last season 🙄
Derek, many years ago I read the CL came about due to AC Milan and Real Madrid moaning that they kept getting knocked out of the early rounds of the European Cup. Of course the big clubs saw a way of making money and came up with the CL.
Can’t see the likes of Bruges, Hamburg etc ever getting to a final of the CL like they did in the European Cup.
Totally agree Herr Drier.
We better be on our toes. I think both Real Madrid and Bayern Munich will have scores to settle.
I can’t wait for those matches. Bayern away is massive.
Arsenal’s is Route of Death. The 2 top German teams and the Mourinho revitalised Madrid. Very tough draw. Maybe anti last season fixtures
It’s a challenging draw for sure, we should see some brilliant football. We probably won’t win all our league phase games this time, but then again we also don’t need to. Just need to get top 8, then it’s all to play for.
Brutal draw for us.
Tough but thats the CL, its supposed to be.
Just remember, they’re probably more afraid if us than we are of them 😉
seems very odd that we have the most difficult draw of all the English teams
Well, we do get to see Vini at the Emirates!
It now appears someone having been smelling blood, hence the relentless pursuit of the Argentinan international
Can Rice replicate those 2 free kicks against Courtouis?
Saka v Cucurella. Havertz v Konate.
Some liken Arteta’s to Mourinho’s tactics.
Arsenal face the 2 Bellingham brothers.
The Emirates Cup 26 Winners Dortmund revisit Emirates.
The mitigating thing is the current EPL run may not be so harder to win as last season.