Champions League Fantasy Football: The league phase fixtures

After the fixtures were confirmed for the league phase of the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League, UEFA.com looks where managers on UCL Fantasy, presented by PlayStation, might want to target to achieve the best scores.

Home or away

When focusing on Fantasy selections, it can be tempting to pick players who have favourable home fixtures and this can often prove a profitable strategy. However, of the 144 games in last season's league phase, less than half – 71 – ended in a home victory, while there were 48 away wins, so it's worth considering other factors as well.

Pick a pot

Fantasy managers have the opportunity to select some of the world's best players for their squad and many will focus on the leading clubs. The nine teams in Pot 1 for last season's league phase draw won 45 of their 72 fixtures, and of equal interest to Fantasy managers will be the 172 goals scored by the Pot 1 sides in those 72 matches at an average of 2.38 per game – suggesting attacking players from these clubs could be worthwhile Fantasy targets.

Bear in mind, however, that Arsenal were in Pot 2 for last season's draw, and finished top of the league phase having won all eight games, scoring 22 goals and conceding only four. Seasoned European campaigners Borussia Dortmund, Sporting CP and Manchester United are among the Pot 2 sides for the coming campaign, with players such as Serhou Guirassy, Luis Suárez and Bruno Fernandes all viable Fantasy options.

A strong start

Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern München, Real Madrid, Liverpool and Barcelona all kick off at home on Matchday 1. Premier Fantasy picks Harry Kane (€11.0m) and Kylian Mbappé (€11.0m) both scored twice in home wins on Matchday 1 last season. Paris pair Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (€10.0m) and Nuno Mendes (€6.0m) also found the net, as did Barça's new signing Anthony Gordon (€8.0m), who finished the campaign with ten goals and two assists for former club Newcastle and has made an immediate impact in Spain, providing four assists in his first three Liga appearances.

Holders Paris take on Slovan Bratislava having scored 25 goals in their eight matches at Parc des Princes in last season's competition – hitting five in a match three times – while LASK visit AEK Athens after scoring five goals in only two qualifying fixtures. Fellow qualifiers Bodø/Glimt hit an average of three per game across their qualifiers ahead of their potentially daunting trip to Bayern.

Fixture sequences

Bayern scored eight goals in their first two fixtures in 2025/26 – Kane getting four of them – and take on Bodø/Glimt in Munich and fellow Norwegian side Viking in Stavanger as they look to hit the ground running in the current campaign. Fellow Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund are at home to Villarreal – 35th in last season's league phase – in their opener before visits to Bodø/Glimt and Sabah in their next two fixtures and then a home fixture against Real Betis, appearing for the first time since 2005/06, on Matchday 4.

Como may be making their European debut but have the chance to make a positive start; they do not play their two Pot 1 opponents, Paris and Barcelona, until Matchdays 7 and 8 respectively. At the other end of the Champions League experience scale, Liverpool begin with a repeat of last season's Matchday 1 fixture, a 3-2 home win against Atleti, before taking on LASK (a), Villarreal (h), Fenerbahçe and Club Brugge (both a) and Porto (h) in their subsequent five fixtures.

Returning to the competition after two seasons away, Manchester United face two debutants – Sabah (h) and Como (a) – in their first two fixtures, making Bruno Fernandes (€9.0m) an appealing early Fantasy option, particularly having already scored a Premier League hat-trick in the new campaign. Bodø/Glimt provided several bargain Fantasy picks last season and could again be worth focusing on; Kjetil Knutsen's side have scored two or more goals in 11 of their last 12 European games and have scored three goals in each of their last five home matches, winning all of them; Dortmund, Lille, LASK and Atleti all visit Norway during the league phase.

2025/26 form

A total of five teams won all four home games in last season's league phase – Arsenal, Bayern München, Tottenham, Chelsea and Sporting CP, with Arsenal, Bayern and Sporting all returning to the competition for 2026/27. Bayern hit 12 goals in their four matches, a tally matched by Barcelona, who won three of their four games (L1). The Spanish side were among six teams to win three home matches in the 2025/26 league phase – all six losing their other fixture – with Liverpool, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid, plus Newcastle – who do not feature in the current campaign – all taking nine points at home.

In terms of players, Kane proved particularly potent at home, scoring nine of his 14 goals in Munich during 2025/26, while Mbappé managed five goals in only four matches at the Santiago Bernabéu for Real Madrid – the Frenchman's ten away goals illustrating his all-round prowess regardless of venue. Erling Haaland (€11.0m) found the net in four of Manchester City's home matches last season; at the other end of the pitch, Gabriel (€6.0m) and David Raya (€6.0m) both kept five clean sheets at the Arsenal Stadium, the Brazilian centre-back ensuring his side did not concede during any of his home appearances last season.