The 2026-27 competition has 36 teams in action. After the first set of fixtures, two-time champions Paris Saint-Germain lead the table with three points. Six-time champions Bayern Munich and five-time winners Barcelona also won their openers.
The league phase started in September and runs until January 2027. Knockout rounds follow, and a champion emerges in early June.
This is the third year of the league-phase format, and it looks nothing like the old one. Since 2003, the tournament split 32 clubs into eight groups of four, and the top two from each section advanced to the last 16. Teams played six group games, facing each opponent home and away.
Now all the clubs sit in a single league under a "Swiss system," more commonly associated with chess. Each club plays eight games, one against each of eight different opponents. At the end of the league phase, the top eight qualify directly for the knockouts.