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The 2026 World Cup brought national teams together to compete on the biggest stage in the world, and now it's time to focus on the individual pro teams. The Union of European Football Associations holds an annual tournament that brings together the best domestic clubs from across Europe to compete in the UEFA Champions League.
The 2026-27 season kicked off in September, and the league phase will run through January 2027 before the four-month knockout phase starts in February. The Final will take place on June 5, 2027. Including qualifying rounds, this year's UEFA Champions League will feature 81 teams from 53 UEFA member countries.
There's a lot at stake here. Other than bragging rights, the winner will automatically qualify for the 2027–28 UEFA Champions League league phase, the 2027 FIFA Intercontinental Cup final, the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup group stage, and the 2027 UEFA Super Cup. Even if you're also following along with England's Premier League, here's what you need to know to keep up with this season's UEFA Champions League.
The tournament's league phase started on September 8 and will continue over eight matchdays across five months. The competition runs through January 27, 2027, before moving to the knockout phase in February. Below are the league's matches for Matchday 3:
Tuesday, October 20
Wednesday, October 21
Looking to tune in this season? CBS holds broadcasting rights in the United States through the 2029-30 season. That means most matches will be on Paramount+, but some will also be broadcast on CBS and CBS Sports Network. To tune in to these matches, you'll need a cable subscription or a live TV streaming service. Separately, the Spanish-language broadcast rights are held by TelevisaUnivision and will be on TUDN. Here's how to watch:
You can tune in to select UEFA Champions League games for free by signing up for a video streaming trial. These trials typically only last a few days, so make sure to time your sign-up correctly so you can watch the game you want for no extra cost.
While Paramount+ no longer offers a free trial, there are two workarounds. You can sign up through Amazon Prime to receive a 7-day trial. Additionally, Walmart+ allows you to pay $1 for a 30-day trial, and you can choose Paramount+ as part of the subscription package. It's not free, but it's certainly better than paying full price!
Free live streams of many UEFA Champions League games will be available on services like RTÉ Player in Ireland and RTVE in Spain. These platforms are geo-locked to their respective countries, so to watch for free from the US or elsewhere, you'll need a virtual private network (VPN).
This week, the PSG vs. Barcelona and Real Madrid vs. RB Leipzig matches will be available to livestream for free on RTE Player and RTVE.
If you need to connect to a server in another country, we recommend ExpressVPN as our top choice for location spoofing. VPNs like ExpressVPN that allow you to obfuscate your location generally aren't free, but often offer free trials. ExpressVPN offers a 7-day free trial.
To watch a UEFA Champions League game with a VPN, follow these steps:
You don't even have to pay for the VPN itself. Check out Proton VPN, TunnelBear, and our other favorite free VPN services.
If you're traveling outside the US but already have access to a streaming service, you can also use a streaming-friendly VPN to access region-locked streaming services like HBO Max. International services like Stan in Australia and Canal+ in France may let you pay for a subscription while logged in with a VPN.
The league phase of the UEFA Champions League includes 36 teams. Following the qualifying and play-off rounds, seven clubs survived to join the 29 squads that qualified in advance. Among them are five teams from England and Spain; four teams from Germany and Italy; three teams from France; and two teams from the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Turkiye. Here's a breakdown of all the clubs participating this year:
If you decide to watch the UEFA Champions League, there's still time to get a big-screen television for viewing this beautiful game. Pro tip: Turn on your TV's motion-smoothing option for the best picture while watching sports. Just remember to turn it off before watching other TV shows and movies to avoid the awful "soap opera" effect.
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