A UEFA regulation change might virtually prohibit Real Madrid from facing Liverpool at Anfield in the 2026/27 Champions League initial league round. All six Premier League clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham, and Newcastle, learnt their opponents for the eight-game, 36-team league stage of Europe’s top competition on Thursday afternoon.
Naturally, the draw resulted in some delicious ties. Tottenham will meet holders Paris Saint-Germain in a Super Cup rematch, while Chelsea – whose fans were among the most enthusiastic heading into the season – face a challenging schedule that includes Spanish champions Barcelona, German champions Bayern Munich, and Italian champions Napoli. See the following:
A UEFA regulation change might virtually prohibit Real Madrid from facing Liverpool at Anfield in the 2026/27 Champions League initial league round. All six Premier League clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham, and Newcastle, learnt their opponents for the eight-game, 36-team league stage of Europe’s top competition on Thursday afternoon.
Naturally, the draw resulted in some delicious ties. Tottenham will meet holders Paris Saint-Germain in a Super Cup rematch, while Chelsea – whose fans were among the most enthusiastic heading into the season – face a challenging schedule that includes Spanish champions Barcelona, German champions Bayern Munich, and Italian champions Napoli. See the following:
According to UEFA’s website, “the UEFA Club Competitions Committee has determined an additional condition that may be applicable to the UEFA Champions League draw for the 2026/27 season, deciding that no individual fixture between the same two teams may be repeated in the same competition with the same home team for three consecutive seasons.
“This means that if any teams that already played against each other in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in the 2024/25 season are again drawn against each other, with the same home team, in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in this 2025/26 season, those teams will not be able to be drawn against each other with the same home team in the 2026/27 season.”
Because Liverpool hosted Los Blancos twice last season and is scheduled to do so again this season at Anfield, any encounter next season would have to take place at the Bernabeu. Trent may be relieved, since he was on the winning side last season when Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo scored second-half goals to propel the Reds to the top of the league standings.
Manchester City are another club that is probably weary of seeing Real Madrid, as the two teams will play for the sixth time in seven seasons this season. However, because last season’s match was in a league phase playoff, it is not subject to the same rule, which means they might still face each other at either site in the 2026/27 season.
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