81 teams are allowed to participate in the 2026-2027 season of the UEFA Champions League.
Medianews.az reports that according to the final scheme, 5 teams from England and Spain, 4 from Italy and Germany, 3 from France, 2 from the Netherlands and Portugal, and 1 team each from Belgium, Czech Republic, Turkey, and Ukraine will await their opponents in the league stage.
Champions from Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Ireland, Moldova, Iceland, Bosnia, Armenia, Latvia, Kosovo, Finland, Kazakhstan, Faroe Islands, Malta, Northern Ireland, Lithuania, Estonia, Albania, Montenegro, Luxembourg, Wales, Georgia, North Macedonia, Belarus, Andorra, Gibraltar, and San Marino will start the tournament from the first round.
The second round’s champions path includes champions from Poland, Denmark, Switzerland, Israel, Cyprus, Sweden, Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The league path includes silver medalists from the championships of Turkey, Austria, Scotland, and Poland.
In the third round’s league path, the fourth-placed team from the French championship, the third-placed team from the Dutch championship, and the silver medalists from the championships of Belgium, Czech Republic, Norway, and Greece will start.
The fourth round’s champions path features the champions of Norway, Greece, Austria, and Scotland.
Teams eliminated in the first round will move to the Conference League, and those eliminated in the remaining rounds will move to the Europa League. In the 36-team league stage, the top 8 teams will qualify for the round of 16, and those ranked 9th to 24th will qualify for the round of 32.
Since 1955, the Champions League, which was called the Champions Cup until 1992, has been won by "Real" 15 times, "Milan" 7, "Bayern" and "Liverpool" 6, "Barcelona" 5, "Ajax" 4, "Inter" (Italy) and "Manchester United" 3, "Benfica," "Nottingham Forest," "Juventus," "Porto," and "Chelsea" 2, while "Celtic," "Feyenoord," "Aston Villa," "Hamburg," "Steaua," PSV, "Red Star Belgrade," "Marseille," "Borussia" (Dortmund), "Manchester City," and PSG have one title each.