Champions League Play-off Second Legs Settle the Last Seven League Phase Places Before the Monaco Draw
The play-off round closes on 25 and 26 August and hands out the final seven places in a 36-team league phase. The draw follows in Monaco on 27 August, and the losers drop into the Europa League.
The Champions League play-off round second legs are played on 25 and 26 August, and they hand out the last places in a 36-team league phase that is drawn in Monaco on 27 August.
How the field is being filled
Twenty-nine clubs qualified directly for the 2026/27 league phase. The remaining seven places come through qualifying, and all seven are settled this week.
| Path | Clubs in the draw | Places available |
|---|---|---|
| Champions path | 10 | 5 |
| League path | 4 | 2 |
The play-off draw was made on 3 August, with first legs on 18 and 19 August. Celtic went in as the strongest champions path seed on a club coefficient of 44.000, alongside Dinamo Zagreb. The league path seeds came out of the Sparta Praha / Lyon and Union Saint-Gilloise / Bodo-Glimt pairings.
Ties level after 90 minutes in the second leg go to extra time and, if needed, penalties. There is no away-goals tiebreak.
What losing costs, and what it does not
Clubs knocked out here are not finished for the season. Champions League play-off losers transfer into the Europa League league phase, which is why this round matters more for seeding and revenue than for European survival. The Europa League has its own play-off second legs on 27 August.
The calendar after Thursday
- 27 August - league phase draw, Monaco
- 8-10 September - matchday one
- Eight matchdays running through to late January 2027
- 16-24 February 2027 - knockout play-offs
- 9-17 March - round of 16
- 6-14 April - quarter-finals
- 27 April - 5 May - semi-finals
- 5 June 2027 - final, Estadio Metropolitano, Madrid
Madrid hosts its sixth European Cup final and its second at the Metropolitano.
Following it on Playdash
Playdash prices both legs of every play-off tie with match winner, to-qualify, handicap and correct-score markets, plus both teams to score, total goals and first goalscorer. Once the draw is made, league phase outrights, top-eight finish, group-stage points totals and winner markets open across all 36 clubs, and matchday one prices go up the same week.
Draw structure, seedings and competition dates as published by UEFA. Second-leg results were still to be decided at the time of writing on 25 August 2026, and the league phase draw date has been reported as 27 August.