Champions League betting returns for another season and this could be the most competitive yet! We’re now all accustomed with the Champions League format – and rarely have so many teams been fancied to win the whole thing.
Although reigning champions PSG ultimately defended the trophy, last season’s league phase had its fair share of shocks. That’s great for football betting fans looking for against-the-odds upsets, while the outright markets offer a layer of predictability for those seeking to consolidate profit.
What will happen in 2026/27? Who knows – but you can be sure to enjoy all the action when signing up to Paddy Power.
From match bets to first goalscorers, Bet Builders, Power Prices and in-play betting – you can get it all with Paddy’s Champions League odds.
This guide serves as a preview for Champions League matches this season, with all the dates to be aware of and the football tips you need to follow the campaign.
We’ll also throw a few odds your way too. So, let’s get started!
HOW THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WORKS
The Champions League was revamped last season with a 36-team league format that took some getting used to. However, by the end of it punters generally felt it was a good evolution of the tournament – and offered underdogs a better chance to progress.
Here’s how the Champions League format works:
Each team plays eight games against eight separate opponents. Their opponents are determined through seedings. For example, Inter Milan (Pot 1) will play two teams per pot:
Liverpool and Real Madrid from Pot 1, Club Brugge and Dortmund from Pot 2, Shakhtar and Feyenoord from Pot 3, and Slovan Bratislava and Stuttgart from Pot 4.
It’s a randomised draw as to who plays each fixture at home and who plays away, though it’s a home game against one team from Pot 1 and an away game against the other, same for Pot 2 etc.
The group stage works as a league and the top eight teams progress straight to the last-16 next spring. The ninth to 24th-placed teams compete in a two-legged playoff in February to earn a spot in the last-16.
Should a team reach the final having finished 10th, for example, it would mean them playing 17 games in a single season.
2026/27 Champions League Group Stage
Below are the teams that have qualified for the Champions League Group Stage this season, in pot order, alongside their UEFA coefficients:
Pot 1
- Paris Saint-Germain (holders) – 132.000
- Bayern Munich – 147.500
- Real Madrid – 144.500
- Liverpool – 130.000
- Inter Milan – 127.000
- Manchester City – 125.500
- Arsenal – 119.000
- Barcelona – 113.250
- Atlético Madrid – 104.750
Pot 2
- Borussia Dortmund – 100.750
- Roma – 97.750
- Sporting CP – 84.000
- Aston Villa – 83.000
- Porto – 80.750
- Manchester United – 76.500
- Club Brugge – 75.250
- Real Betis – 74.500
- PSV Eindhoven – 71.250
Pot 3
- Feyenoord – 71.000
- Lille – 68.750
- Bodo/Glimt – 64.000
- Napoli – 63.000
- RB Leipzig – 61.000
- Villarreal – 59.000
- Fenerbahce – 57.750
- Shakhtar Donetsk – 56.250
- Galatasaray – 53.500
Pot 4
- Slavia Prague – 44.000
- Slovan Bratislava – 36.000
- VfB Stuttgart – 27.500
- AEK Athens – 24.000
- LASK – 21.000
- Como – 19.989
- Lens – 16.699
- Viking – 8.247
- Sabah – 6.000
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DATES
The Champions League’s format gives everyone the chance to place eight league games: four at home, four away. Weirdly, the last two games take place at the end of January.
Here are the following Champions League matchdays for the group stage in 2026/27:
- 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
The last round of league fixtures in the Champions League take place on the same day at the same time, in order to ensure fairness across the competition.
PADDY POWER CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TIPS
Now you know how the 2026/27 Champions League works, it’s time to look at the football betting options available to Paddy Power punters.
We’re offering thousands of Champions League bets over the course of the season, with Power Prices every day and extensive live odds on each game.
Below are our Champions League tips for 2026/27, including a few underdog picks!
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WINNER: Our early pick
Paddy’s traders have set odds that reflect the competitive nature of the tournament this season – it’s going to be hard to predict a winner.
PSG are favourites at 5/2, with three other teams following closely at 6/1. They are Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and last season’s runners up Arsenal.
Arsenal don’t have much of a pedigree for Champions League finals, having waited to 20 years to reach one, and while Bayern Munich have all the tools to make the final four at least, there’s still a perceived overreliance on Harry Kane.
Barcelona will also have to adapt to life after their own talisman, Robert Lewandowski, though with the Blaugrana retaining six of their seven World Cup-winning representatives, and Lamine Yamal turning into this generation’s Messi before our eyes, they’re a serious contender and our pick ahead of Matchday 1.
Once you’ve won the World Cup, surely anything is possible?
To reach the final & Win the league phase
Liverpool might not be what they once were a few years ago under Jurgen Klopp. However, there’s an ingrained club culture of going far in the Champions League. Judging by the average coefficient of their league phase opponents, the Reds have the fourth-easiest schedule between September and January, allowing them to build momentum on the continent. A widely-expected top eight finish would also get them seeded status in the Round of 16.
Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexander Isak are particularly potent of their day, with Szoboszlai’s ability from free kicks perhaps unmatched in Europe right now. All of this means that the Reds’ current prices in both markets looks like a very tempting prospect.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GOLDEN BOOT
We got it spot on by picking Kylian Mbappe last year, and he’s again tipped to trouble the upper end of the top scorer table. Yet again, It’s probably between him and Harry Kane, but we’ll plum for the younger man – and the outright favourite – once more.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE UNDERDOGS: Top-8 finish
This is very likely to fluctuate over the coming months, but ahead of matchday one, our surprise pick for a top-eight finish, and a fasttrack to the Round of 16, is Sporting CP. They have one of the less brutal schedules, with PSV and Feyenoord being the only other teams outside Europe’s top five leagues who face opponents with an average coefficient of less than 71.0.
The Lisbon side managed to finish seventh in last season’s league phase with a very respectable record (W5, D1, L2). Geovany Quenda and Francisco Trincão were dangerous in the final third, while Morten Hjulmand provided stability in the centre, and while all three departed earlier in the summer, Sporting have at least replaced them like-for-like in good time.
*all odds correct as of 28/8/26
