On Thursday, 27 August, the draw for the 2026/27 Champions League league phase was held in Nyon, determining the schedule and opponents for all participants in the tournament's new format. From Ukraine, Donetsk's Shakhtar takes part at this stage, and its match grid became the main story of the day for Ukrainian fans. The "miners" received eight opponents, including both trophy-laden European clubs and teams that are direct rivals for play-off places.
How the Champions League league phase works
As a reminder, from the 2024/25 season the Champions League no longer has a traditional group stage. Instead, teams play under a league system: each club plays eight matches — four at home and four away. Opponents and the status of each match (home/away) are fixed at the draw. Under the regulations, each team receives two opponents from each of the four pots, with one match against a club from a pot played at home and the second away. This format means that already at this stage every match carries competitive significance, and Shakhtar faces a tight schedule alternating home and away games.
Shakhtar's opponents in the league phase
According to the draw results, the "miners" will play home matches against Madrid's Real, Sporting and Fenerbahce, and away against Milan's Inter, PSV and RB Leipzig. The grid also includes a match against Greece's AEK. However, in the available version of the source the status of the AEK match (home or away) was not fully specified, so until UEFA publishes the official schedule this detail should be considered subject to confirmation. The exact dates of all league-phase matches for Shakhtar will be known on Saturday, when UEFA publishes the full match calendar.
Ukrainian players in other tournament teams
Besides Shakhtar, five other clubs with Ukrainian players in their squads advanced to the Champions League league phase. These are Madrid's Real (goalkeeper Andriy Lunin), Prague's Slavia (goalkeeper Nazar Domchak), Paris Saint-Germain (defender Ilya Zbarny), Bratislava's Slovan (midfielder Danylo Ignatenko and forward Nikolai Kucharevych), as well as Greece's AEK, which also features a Ukrainian player. Thus, the Ukrainian diaspora in UEFA's elite tournament remains prominent, and matches of these teams will become additional points of interest for the domestic audience.
Context ahead of the start of the campaign
It is worth noting separately that before the start of its Champions League campaign, Shakhtar extended the contract of one of its defenders, who is also a member of the Ukraine national team. This club decision underscores the focus on squad stability ahead of a tight European schedule. The draw produced a balanced but demanding grid that requires maximum concentration: Shakhtar will have to prove its competitiveness both in home matches against Real and Sporting and in away games against Inter and RB Leipzig.
