The UEFA Champions League 2026-27 season will get underway on Tuesday, with 36 teams competing as usual.
Paris Saint-Germain are the defending champions, having beaten Arsenal 4-3 on penalties after the scores ended 1-1 after extra time. PSG will be looking to become the first club since Real Madrid in the 2017-18 season to clinch three consecutive Champions League titles.
The upcoming season will feature four clubs making their debut in the UEFA Champions League—Como (Italy), LASK (Austria), Sabah (Azerbaijan) and Viking (Norway).
Since the introduction of the league-phase format in 2024/25, which expanded the tournament to 36 teams, 13 clubs have made their debut. We now take a look at the four teams making their Champions League debut this season.
will become the 12th Italian club to feature in the Champions League. The club qualified automatically after finishing fourth in Serie A in the 2025/26 season.
The qualification represents Como’s first appearance in a European club competition of any kind.
Como returned to only in 2024, having spent the previous season in Serie B. Their fourth-place finish in 2025/26 secured Champions League football under coach Cesc Fàbregas, who previously made 104 Champions League appearances as a player for Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea combined.
Como will get their Champions League campaign underway with a home match against RB Leipzig on Thursday.
Austrian champions LASK will make their first appearance in the Champions League proper. The Linz-based club won the Austrian title in 2025/26 after finishing third in the regular season before topping the championship round.
LASK also completed a domestic double by winning the Austrian Cup, defeating SCR Altach 4-2 after extra time in the final. Their European history includes a run to the last 16 of the 2019/20 Europa League, but the 2026/27 campaign will be their first in the Champions League proper.
LASK qualified for the Champions League’s league stage with a stunning 5-4 win over Celtic on aggregate in the qualification playoffs.
LASK begin their league-phase campaign away to AEK Athens on 8 September.
Azerbaijan’s Sabah have also reached the Champions League league phase for the first time. The Masazir-based club qualified through the play-offs after overturning a 2-1 first-leg deficit against Hapoel Beer-Sheva with a 5-2 extra-time victory in the return leg.
Sabah had earlier eliminated The New Saints, KuPS Kuopio and Aarhus during qualifying. UEFA records six wins from their eight Champions League matches during the qualifying campaign.
The club won its first Azerbaijani league title in 2025/26 and also retained the Azerbaijani Cup. Formed in 2017, Sabah will be playing in the league phase of a UEFA men’s club competition for the first time.
Sabah will face Manchester United at Old Trafford in their first game on Thursday.
Norwegian champions Viking complete the quartet. They won their first Norwegian league title in 34 years in the 2025 season and subsequently advanced through Champions League qualifying to reach the league phase.
Viking’s appearance is their first in the main stage of the Champions League. Their previous participation in a UEFA group stage came in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup.
Viking will face German outfit VfB Stuttgart in their Champions League opener on Wednesday.
