The 2026-27 Champions League league phase starts on Tuesday evening, with 36 clubs looking to make the perfect start to the main stage of the competition.
Eighteen fixtures are due to take place over the course of three days, with the rare occasion of Champions League games taking place on a Thursday.
UEFA has introduced a change relating to yellow cards for the League Phase campaign, something that the established clubs and the four debutants will need to take on board.
Here, Buzz explains how the League Phase of the Champions League works, with the stage played over a number of months.
How does the Champions League league phase work?
As already mentioned, 36 teams have qualified for the League Phase through their performances in their domestic leagues. Some teams earned an automatic spot, while others needed to come through the qualifying rounds.
Their reward is a guaranteed eight matches, four taking place at home and the same number being played on away territory.
With the draw having been split into four pots, teams are provided with two fixtures against clubs from each pot.
Three points are awarded for a win and one for a draw. Teams that finish the League Phase in the top eight of the table will automatically qualify for the last 16 of the competition, which takes place in March.
Those who finish between ninth and 24th will earn a spot in the knockout phase playoffs, with the eight winners progressing through to play one of the teams who finished in the top eight.
What are the dates for the Champions League league phase fixtures?
When introducing the new format, UEFA made the decision to extend the league stage of the Champions League into the second half of the season.
Therefore, six League Phase matches are played between September and December, with the concluding two coming in January.
How many points do you need to progress from Champions League league phase?
The 2026-27 edition of the Champions League marks just the third time that it has been held in its current format.
As far as a top-eight position is concerned, 16 points was the magic number to earn automatic qualification for the knockout phase in 2024-25 and 2025-26 respectively.
Even when goal difference and tie-breaker rules can potentially play their part, no team has ever finished higher than ninth without accumulating 16 points.
However, it is a different story with regards to finishing in the top 24, with Dinamo Zagreb racking up 11 points in 2024-25 and still only finishing in 25th place.
In relatively sharp contrast by Champions League league phase standards, Bodo/Glimt and Benfica only needed nine points to finish 23rd and 24th respectively in the 2025-26 table.
Incredibly, all but four teams recorded at least two victories from their eight matches, subsequently resulting in many teams being left in jeopardy heading into the final matchday.