Arsenal and Liverpool hit with ‘banned’ fixtures in Champions League draw
Arsenal and Liverpool face unusual Champions League draw restrictions after UEFA moved to prevent identical fixtures from being repeated at the same stadium for three straight seasons.
Arsenal and Liverpool will enter Thursday’s Champions League league-phase draw with restrictions on two potential fixtures after UEFA introduced a rule designed to prevent the same matchup from being staged at the same venue for three consecutive seasons.
Arsenal cannot be drawn to visit Inter Milan again after travelling to San Siro in each of the previous two campaigns, although Inter can still be paired with the Gunners at the Emirates.
Liverpool face a similar restriction involving Real Madrid, having hosted the Spanish giants at Anfield in both of the last two league phases. The Reds can still be drawn to play Madrid away at the Santiago Bernabéu.
The change is part of the adjustments surrounding the expanded 36-team league-phase format, with each club facing eight opponents, including two from each seeding pot, across four home and four away matches.
UEFA’s regulations allow alternative draw conditions to be applied where necessary to avoid deadlocks and accommodate competition constraints.
The new provision is intended to add greater variety to the league phase while preventing clubs from repeatedly meeting under identical home-and-away circumstances.
Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa are among the English clubs involved in Thursday’s draw in Monaco, with the ceremony scheduled to determine the league-phase opponents for the 2026/27 campaign.
The competition is due to begin in September, with clubs battling for positions in the knockout rounds under the league-phase system.
Arsenal will hope to go further than last season after reaching the final, while Liverpool will begin another European campaign among the tournament’s leading seeds.
